The Monetary Policy of the ECB in the Time of Crisis The Current Empirical Analysis

This paper investigates the monetary policy of the European Central Bank in the time of the financial, economic and European debt and banking crisis. This paper focuses on the actual issues connected with the debt and banking crisis in Europe. The attention is devoted to the risk development in the European banking sector and the development of the monetary policy of the ECB. The empirical analysis of the ECB ́s monetary policy points out the systematic change in its behavior, which means that the ECB has been more focused on the financial stability of the European banking sector instead of the standard aim regarding the price stability. The results of the paper show how the monetary policy of the ECB is more and more unconventional with a decreasing rate of independence. This fact would have a significant impact on a future development of the European banking sector and the European economic activity