Whither politicization? The reputational politics of the ECB in face of the climate catastrophe.

In 1999, the ECB used to be a secretive inflation-obsessed institution whose main audience was financial operators and Financial Times’ readers. Since then, the ECB faced two major financial crises and, in turn, expended its policies and influence well beyond its original realm of competences, up to the point that central bankers became, arguably, the “only game in town”. In turn, ECB policymakers faced increasing resistances as they were dragged in front of national and EU courts by German citizens and saw Greenpeace paragliders landed onto the roof of the Eurotower. A new strand of academic literature interpreted these changes as related to the politicization of the ECB, even though authors differ in how they define and interpret this conceptual framework. This article aims at refining our theoretical understanding of the politisation of the ECB by applying the “reputational” framework (Carpenter 2010) to the ECB recent policy initiatives about the greening of its monetary and prudential policies. The first step of the research is to draw the boundaries of the political ecosystem in which the ECB is immersed in order to define the different audiences to which the ECB reacts. Then, the article exposes how the multiplicity of the ECB audiences led to a policy dilemma about the greening of its operations. Finally, the article highlights which justifications are put forward by the ECB to defend its organizational reputation in front of its different audiences.