Am 6. Januar 2011 beschloss der EZB-Rat, seine monatliche Mitteilung "Beschlüsse des EZB-Rats (ohne Zinsbeschlüsse)" ab Januar 2011 in allen Amtssprachen der EU auf den Websites der EZB und der nationalen Zentralbanken des ESZB zu veröffentlichen.

The European sovereign debt crisis was characterised by the fact that some euro area countries, owing to their high levels of debt – caused in part by efforts to counter the consequences of the global financial crisis – experienced difficulties refinancing their debt and, in some cases, lost access to capital market funding. In order to protect monetary policy transmission and safeguard sufficient liquidity provision for the financial system, the ECB Governing Council adopted various non-standard measures during the course of the crisis that went beyond the scope of the usual operational framework at that time.

Paying with cash or a debit card is the cheapest payment method for consumers in Germany. Cash incurs the lowest costs per payment transaction, while debit cards are cheapest in relation to the amount of money spent. Paying with a credit card is in any case considerably more expensive. These are the conclusions drawn by a study entitled “Costs of cash and card payments from a consumer perspective”, which was carried out on behalf of the Deutsche Bundesbank.