The European Central Bank officially comes into operation today. It will be the world's most powerful central bank, managing a currency and interest rates covering 290 million people and a fifth of the world's trade and completely independent of political control.
The bank was not due to come into operation until July 1st, but the heads of state of the EU decided last week that they would jump on the impetus created by the appointment of its executive board at the beginning of May.
The board is considered to be the most hardline in the world and is certainly composed of serious central bankers' bankers.
In fact, most market watchers agree that the only reason the credibility of the bank was not damaged by the wrangel over who should be president is thanks solely to the high calibre of its first intake.
The challenge, according to Ms Alison Cottrell, chief international economist at Paine Webber, is for the individuals to transfer their credibility to the new institution.
The one question which is uppermost on most people's minds is whether the new bank will be swift to raise interest rates or will hold out for as long as possible.
From our own Central Bank governor's position it is preferable that rates are raised quickly. However, Mr Maurice O'Connell will only have one vote on the 17-member board and six countries will actually have two votes.
But some argue that the ECB will not need to pay too much attention to exchange rates as the euro zone will be a much less open economy than any of the individual countries, with the vast bulk of trade going on between participating countries. Ireland, of course, is an exception to this, with Britain still remaining as our largest trading partner.
On top of that, it may find it more difficult to reach a consensus as it is representing the views of 11 different countries and will be very decentralised with only six Frankfurt-based executives facing 11 regional central bank governors.
However, others argue that it will be subject to such close scrutiny by the markets that it will not dare to delay rate rises.
Nevertheless, the ECB board will not actually be able to make those decision until January next year. In the meantime, its has a very busy agenda. Personnel have to be organised and the top functionaries appointed. The working of the European system of central banks will have to be tested to ensure they will work properly by the beginning of next year.
The first governing council meeting on June 9th is likely to be closely watched. It is hoped that it will give some indication of its initial thinking on how it will decide its broad strategy and the distribution of responsibilities between the governing council and the executive board.
The bank will also be starting a heavy recruitment campaign. Until now 450 people worked for the EMI but many of these will be returning to their member states. The ECB estimates it will need 100 people to fill the gaps and boost employment to 500. Already job information is on its web site at www.ecb.int.
