The General Council comprises the President and the Vice-President of the ECB and the respective governors of the ESCB's 27 national central banks.
The other members of the ECB’s Executive Board, the President of the EU Council and one member of the European Commission may attend the General Council meetings but do not have the right to vote.
The General Council carries out the tasks taken over from the European Monetary Institute (EMI), which the ECB continues to perform in Stage Three of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), while there are still Member States that have not adopted the euro. These tasks include: reporting on the progress made towards convergence by non-participating Member States and advising on all the necessary preparations for irrevocably fixing the exchange rates of their respective currencies. In addition, the General Council collaborates in certain ESCB activities, such as advisory functions and the compilation of statistical data.