By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – Over two days, the European Central Bank’s Governing Council offered a small but telling communications split: two senior national central bank governors drifted into calendar-based reassurance about rate hikes, while their colleague, Austrian National Bank Governor Martin Kocher, reaffirmed the ECB’s doctrine of optionality.
13 January 2026
By David Barwick – VIENNA (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Martin Kocher on Tuesday expressed concern about the apparent use of legal pretexts by the US government to go after the Federal Reserve over what actually amounted to disagreement about monetary policy.
13 January 2026
By Marta Vilar – MADRID (Econostream) – European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde joined other leading central bankers on Tuesday in signing a joint declaration backing Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, following threats by the US government to pursue a criminal indictment against him.
13 January 2026
By David Barwick – VIENNA (Econostream) – Following is the full transcript of the interview conducted by Econostream on Tuesday with Estonian Finance Minister Jürgen Ligi on the margins of the Central & Eastern European Forum.
13 January 2026
By Marta Vilar – MADRID (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Madis Müller said on Monday that any future interest rate increases would be a matter for the coming years rather than the next few months or quarters.
12 January 2026
By Marta Vilar – MADRID (Econostream) – European Central Bank Vice President Luis de Guindos said on Monday that markets may be overpricing the economic impact of artificial intelligence, warning that unmet expectations about what AI will ultimately deliver could pose a risk to growth via weaker business investment.
12 January 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member François Villeroy de Galhau on Monday argued that ECB interest rates were unlikely to rise in 2026 absent an “unlikely shock,” saying inflation had returned to target.
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By Marta Vilar – MADRID (Econostream) – The tone of the ECB’s Governing Council, as reflected in the ECB Tone Meter , has shifted modestly more hawkish since the 18 December 2025 monetary policy meeting.
9 January 2026
By Marta Vilar – MADRID (Econostream) – European Central Bank Chief Economist Philip Lane said on Friday that the appropriate monetary policy response to inflation deviations must be assessed case by case, arguing that fixed, all-purpose rules would not be helpful.
9 January 2026
By Marta Vilar – MADRID (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Dimitar Radev said on Friday that the current level of interest rates remained appropriate and that there was no reason to expect significant adjustments.
9 January 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – Portugal is expected to formally nominate former ECB Governing Council member and ex-Eurogroup President Mário Centeno to succeed ECB President Luis de Guindos on Friday, after Centeno announced his candidacy late Thursday, sharpening a contest that has become unusually crowded ahead of the Eurogroup’s January 9 nomination deadline.
9 January 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – Following is the full transcript of the interview conducted by Econostream with former European Central Bank Governing Council member Mário Centeno. The interview focused exclusively on the matter at hand—Centeno's announcement on Thursday of his candidacy to succeed ECB Vice President Luis de Guindos, whose term ends on 31 May 2026—and did not delve into any aspect of current ECB policy:
9 January 2026
By Marta Vilar – MADRID (Econostream) – European Central Bank Vice President Luis de Guindos said on Thursday that the current level of interest rates is appropriate, adding that unexpected developments were taking place and the ECB’s monetary policy stance would adjust should circumstances change enough to warrant it.
8 January 2026
By Marta Vilar – MADRID (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Álvaro Santos Pereira said on Wednesday that the ECB expected inflation to remain close to the 2% target and that there was no need to adjust monetary policy as long as this remained the case .
7 January 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – Slovenia’s President Nataša Pirc Musar on Wednesday nominated Banka Slovenije Deputy Governor Primož Dolenc to become governor of the central bank, a post that carries a seat on the European Central Bank’s Governing Council.
7 January 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – The Lithuanian Finance Ministry on Tuesday confirmed that it was putting forward three-time finance minister Rimantas Šadžius as a candidate to succeed European Central Bank Vice President Luis de Guindos, corroborating Econostream’s reporting from 18 December.
6 January 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Madis Müller on Tuesday signaled strong interest in becoming the next ECB vice president, arguing that his experience and timeline aligned well with the role.
6 January 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member François Villeroy de Galhau on Tuesday said two “major upheavals” — tokenization and geopolitics — are reshaping the international monetary landscape, with implications for monetary policy and financial stability.
6 January 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – The European Central Bank emphasizes that the monthly rotation of Governing Council voting rights does not silence anyone: all governors still attend and have the right to speak, and most decisions are reached by consensus. A recent empirical study of the ECB’s rotation model is broadly consistent with that claim, finding only rare cases in which rotation appears likely to have determined outcomes.
6 January 2026
By Marta Vilar – MADRID (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Álvaro Santos Pereira said on Tuesday that the Portuguese economy had shown resilience and that inflation in the country was expected to converge towards 2% within the projection horizon.
6 January 2026