Furthermore, the members of the ECB Executive Board can be called to speak before the responsible committees of the European Parliament. This ensures that accountability is broadly and institutionally enshrined at the European level. By contrast, accountability at the national level, i.e.
of the central bank governors to their respective national parliaments, would run counter to the exclusively European mandate of the European System of Central Banks. This European mandate applies not just to the members of the Executive Board, but to all members of the Central Bank Council. This European orientation, the responsibility for a single monetary policy, determines the institution’s self-identity.