ECB’s Villeroy: Downside Risks to Inflation “A Little Stronger” Than Upside Risks

10 February 2026

By Marta Vilar – MADRID (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member François Villeroy de Galhau said on Tuesday that downside risks to inflation were “a little stronger” than those on the upside, and that the ECB was in a “good position.”

In an interview with French daily Les Echos, Villeroy, who heads the Banque de France, was asked about the reasons that led him to announce he was stepping down as governor.

“I had been telling myself for a long time that after the Banque de France, I would like to have a mission in the social field,” he said. “Jean-Marc Sauvé [president of the Fondation Apprentis d'Auteuil] asked me last autumn about his succession, which was opening at the end of May.”

He added that “[a]fter careful consideration,” he made the decision to leave the Banque de France in June 2026.

By that point, he noted, most of his mission would have been completed, with the ECB’s strategic plan, the G7 meeting, and the letter to the President of the Republic all finalized.

He denied being asked to resign to prevent a successor from being appointed after the 2027 elections, amid concerns that the far-right National Rally could rise.

“All those who know me as a free man, and who know my independence, know that if I had been asked [to step down before the 2027 elections], I would have refused,” he said. “This is a personal decision. I answered a call, in every sense of the word.”

With respect to monetary policy, he said that from the beginning of his term he had declined to be categorized as either a hawk or a dove, asserting instead that he is a pragmatist.

The ECB had succeeded in bringing inflation under control, with rates at 2%—the lowest among major advanced economies excluding Japan, he said.

Villeroy said that monetary policy was now in a “good position” but neither “comfortable” nor “set in stone,” given the uncertainties and challenges facing consumers.

“The downside risks to price developments now seem to me to be a little stronger than the upside risks,” he said. “I therefore defend more than ever an agile pragmatism in terms of rates.”