Therefore, caution — at least — should be exercised in terms of delegating additional tasks to the ECB. In addition to those two basic preconditions — the democratic assignment of tasks and an unambiguous mandate — tying the independent central bank into a democratic system naturally requires something more: it calls for transparency and accountability.
Independent monetary policy cannot and must not be remote from the general public. In saying that, it is essential to distinguish precisely what is meant by transparency. Does transparency mean full disclosure of the deliberations, arguments and motives behind a decision: in other words, transparency of the situation in which a decision is taken?