Money and central bank in Europe.

Summary The purpose of this thesis is the creation of a European central bank and the adoption of a single currency. The first part justifies the creation of a European central bank by placing it in its long historical dynamics and by a theory of money that places the payments system at the heart of any monetary economy. The second part focuses on the institutional organization and concrete functioning of the future European central bank system. The systematic use of the analogy with the American federal reserve system, both in its decentralized period of operation (until 1935) and in its current structure, is one of the original features of this part. The main developments concern the following issues: the mandate and independence of the European central bank, the impossibility of applying the principle of subsidiarity in monetary policy, prudential policy (supervision, prudential regulation, lender of last resort, deposit insurance and security of payment systems) and monetary policy in the transitional and final phase of the monetary unification process.