The imminent expansion of the European Union will eventually lead to an increased number of countries participating in the Euro Area. Indeed, as early as 2006, the Euro Area could have up to 10 new members. This implies that the number of those entitled to vote in the European Central Bank's (ECB) Governing Council would increase from the current 18 to 28; if the United Kingdom, Denmark, and Sweden were also to join, this figure would rise to 31. The need for an efficient decision-making process makes it imperative to reform the rules on voting within the ECB's Governing Council. This report outlines and compares the proposals put forward by the European Central Bank and the DIW Berlin. Both are based on group formation with rotation, but differ with regard to the weighting of individual regions; in the ECB proposal the large countries are visibly underrepresented.
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