ECB’s Vujčić: “The Less We Discuss TPI, the More Effective It Is”

25 February 2026

By Marta Vilar – MADRID (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Boris Vujčić said on Wednesday that the ECB's Transmission Protection Instrument (TPI) works best when it is discussed less.

During the Q&A session of a hearing in the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs in the European Parliament, Vujčić, who heads the Croatian National Bank and has been nominated for the role of ECB vice president, said that there were “clear” conditions for the use of the ECB’s TPI and that it would only be activated if those conditions were met.

“But I usually say, publicly the less we discuss TPI, the more effective it is, so I will stop here,” he added.

Addressing inflation differentials across the euro area, Vujčić said dispersion had returned to historical norms. He pointed to January CPI data of 0.4% in France and 4.2% in Slovakia as evidence that differences are back in line with long-term averages.

Referring to the ECB’s December projections, he said the expected gap between the highest and lowest inflation rates across euro area countries over the forecast horizon remained within historical ranges.

“So, I think, it's much less of a problem now than it used to be two years ago.”

On the international role of the euro, he said the ECB’s primary contribution is to “do its job properly” by safeguarding price and financial stability and maintaining central bank independence.

He said he believed the international role of the euro would “grow gradually,” though this would depend both on developments in Europe and elsewhere, as well as shifts in investor confidence.

Regarding simplification of banking rules, Vujčić said that the ECB should try to simplify regulation “even more”, suggesting that meaningful change would likely require revisiting “level one” legislation, as current efforts are focused on level two and three regulatory frameworks.