Institutional Independence, Concentration of Powers and Administrative Changes at the European Central Bank

The ECB enjoys a very high degree of independence and, at the same time, significant powers. While these powers have mainly been studied from the point of view of its competences, its political decision-making process and its central bodies (President, Executive Board, Governing Council, etc.), this chapter points to a specifically administrative dynamic that has contributed to the strengthening of the ECB. In the face of the concentration of power that has resulted not only from its Statute but also from the institution’s extensive interpretation of its independence, internal checks and balances have emerged. Through a form of ‘cunning of the reason’, such mechanisms have contributed to changes in the bank’s administration, in a process which has been ongoing until fairly recently. This chapter details some of these bureaucratic transformations, shedding some light on an aspect which has been rather neglected in academic scholarship.