Recital 1

(1)In accordance with Article 18.1 of the Statute of the European System of Central Banks and of the European Central Bank (hereinafter the ‘Statute of the ESCB’), the European Central Bank (ECB), together with the national central banks of the Member States whose currency is the euro (hereinafter the ‘NCBs’) may operate in the financial markets by, among other things, buying and selling marketable instruments outright, in order to achieve the objectives of the European System of Central Banks.