By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Olli Rehn said Friday that the ECB’s June rate hike was aimed at keeping inflation expectations anchored and preventing price pressures from spreading from energy to other prices and wages.
12 June 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Gabriel Makhlouf said Friday that the ECB needed to get ahead of inflation and that it would have been a mistake not to act.
12 June 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Ülo Kaasik said Friday that markets expected another two to three ECB rate hikes this year, but that the timing of the next move was extremely difficult to predict.
12 June 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Martin Kocher said Friday that the ECB’s rate hike would help stabilize conditions as the Middle East war pushed inflation higher and raised the risk of second-round effects.
12 June 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Primož Dolenc said Friday that the ECB’s new interest-rate level would allow it to respond appropriately to further developments in the Middle East energy shock.
12 June 2026
By Marta Vilar – MADRID (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Joachim Nagel said on Friday that the ECB would maintain optionality regarding its next move and react if necessary.
12 June 2026
By Marta Vilar – MADRID (Econostream) – Thursday’s rate hike by the European Central Bank was “just enough for now,” according to Governing Council member Primož Dolenc, who declined to provide any guidance on future policy moves.
12 June 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde on Thursday did what she had to do – and as we expected yesterday – after the Governing Council’s unsurprising 25bp rate hike, refusing adamantly to provide a post-June roadmap.
11 June 2026
By Marta Vilar – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said on Thursday that the ECB unanimously decided to raise interest rates by 25bp, with no other policy options discussed, describing the move as both “necessary” and “a signal.”
11 June 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – The European Central Bank’s monetary policy decision on Thursday was consistent, at least at first glance, with the “one-and-watch” scenario we outlined ahead of the meeting.
11 June 2026
By Marta Vilar – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – The European Central Bank’s Governing Council on Thursday raised its key interest rates by 25bp and published updated staff projections pointing to weaker growth and higher inflation over the coming years.
11 June 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – The European Central Bank’s main decision on June 11 stopped being the source of much suspense some time ago, with a 25bp rate hike the only reasonably probable outcome and the Governing Council likely to be unanimous, given the lack of any obvious dissenter.
10 June 2026
By Marta Vilar – MADRID (Econostream) – Econostream’s ECB Tone Meter was broadly unchanged for the Governing Council while turning slightly more hawkish for the Executive Board as the quiet period ahead of the June meeting began.
5 June 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Yannis Stournaras on Thursday said the latest Middle East conflict had created another supply-side shock that was pushing up inflation and weighing on economic activity, arguing that Europe needed more investment to strengthen its resilience.
4 June 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Yannis Stournaras on Thursday said artificial intelligence could raise productivity and increase economies’ growth potential, but warned that the transition could also create inflationary pressures, labor-market disruptions and new risks to financial stability.
4 June 2026
By Laura Contemori – ROME (Econostream) – The Bank of Italy's €-coin indicator, a measure of underlying euro area economic growth, declined to 0.45 in May 2026 from 0.52 in April, according to a joint release by the Bank of Italy and the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) on Thursday.
4 June 2026
By Marta Vilar – MADRID (Econostream) – Following is a collection of views expressed by ECB Governing Council members on various topics of high relevance related to next week’s meeting and the further evolution of monetary policy.
4 June 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Executive Board member Piero Cipollone said Wednesday that the ECB had received more than 50 applications from payment service providers seeking to participate in next year’s digital euro pilot.
3 June 2026
By Marta Vilar – MADRID (Econostream) – European Central Bank Executive Board member Frank Elderson said on Wednesday that looking through the energy shock had become “increasingly unlikely” for the ECB.
3 June 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Executive Board member Frank Elderson said Wednesday that the ECB would ask banks to take proactive steps to protect themselves against cyber risks stemming from frontier artificial intelligence models.
3 June 2026