Decision-making bodies 

The ESCB is governed by the decision-making bodies of the ECB. These are the Governing Council, the Executive Board and the General Council. 

The Governing Council is made up of the Governors of the central banks of the Member States participating in EMU (including, obviously, the Governor of the Central Bank of Ireland) and the members of the Executive Board. The Governing Council's responsibility is to take the decisions necessary to ensure the performance of the ESCBs tasks, in particular the formulation of monetary policy. In general, voting is on a one-person/one vote basis, including for monetary policy decisions, though voting is weighted (according to national central banks' shares in the ECB's subscribed capital) in the case of financial matters such as capital and external reserves and the distribution of pooled income. 

The Executive Board is composed of the President and the Vice-President of the ECB and four other members. The Executive Board is responsible for the management of the ECB and for implementing monetary policy in accordance with the decisions of the Governing Council. 

The General Council is made up of the President and Vice-President of the ECB and the Governors of the Central Banks of all Member States (ie whether participating in EMU or not). The four other members of the Executive Board may take part in meetings of the General Council, but without having the right to vote. The General Council is responsible for performing the tasks which the ECB took over from the EMI which, because not all Member States are participating in EMU, must still be performed in the third stage of EMU.