By Marta Vilar – ROME (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Fabio Panetta said on Tuesday that negotiations between the United States and Iran could result in lower energy prices than assumed in the ECB’s June staff projections but warned that the economic outlook remained “fragile.”
7 July 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Executive Board member Philip Lane said Monday that artificial intelligence could affect inflation, investment, the natural rate of interest and monetary policy transmission in multiple ways, but that the net impact remained uncertain.
6 July 2026
By Marta Vilar – ROME (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Pierre Wunsch said on Monday that if recent declines in oil and gas prices persist and second-round effects remain contained, the ECB should be able to return inflation to target without needing significant additional monetary tightening.
6 July 2026
By David Barwick – ROME (Econostream) – European Central Bank Executive Board member Isabel Schnabel on Monday argued that monetary policy could not look through the current shock, since – despite the renewed decline of oil prices – it was already leading to indirect effects and could still become self-perpetuating.
6 July 2026
By Marta Vilar – MADRID (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Joachim Nagel on Friday said that the ECB must be vigilant, open and keep all options on the table given the unpredictability of the Middle East conflict and energy shock.
3 July 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Pierre Wunsch has occupied an unusually prominent place in the news recently, and not just for his views on monetary policy.
3 July 2026
By Marta Vilar – MADRID (Econostream) – Econostream’s ECB Tone Meter declined further this week in both its Governing Council and Executive Board measures, with the latter remaining more hawkish than the former, as policymakers increasingly signaled that the case for another interest rate hike is receding and a July move appears increasingly unlikely.
3 July 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – If European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde’s latest monetary policy comments were still largely about defending the June rate hike, newly installed Banque de France Governor Emmanuel Moulin has already moved on to what is evidently the more important task for anyone at the head of the French central bank: making absolutely sure that no one mistakes June for the start of a new tightening cycle.
3 July 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – For the second time this week, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde’s monetary policy comments defended the June rate hike more than they illuminate what comes next.
3 July 2026
By Marta Vilar – MADRID (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Emmanuel Moulin said on Friday that the ECB was in a “good position” following its June interest rate hike, adding that the balance of risks was “in the right place.”
3 July 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde has now said explicitly what had long been implicit: she could leave the ECB before the expiry of her term at the end of October 2027.
3 July 2026
By Marta Vilar – MADRID (Econostream) – European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said late Thursday that she did not know whether the ECB would raise interest rates again at one of its upcoming meetings but added that she had “a general sense” of the direction monetary policy would take.
3 July 2026
By Marta Vilar – MADRID (Econostream) - European Central Bank Governing Council member José Luis Escrivá said on Thursday that the key challenge for policymakers was determining whether the inflationary effects of the Middle East war would prove temporary or become persistent enough to threaten the ECB's price stability objective.
2 July 2026
By Laura Contemori – ROME (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Fabio Panetta on Thursday said artificial intelligence had the potential to lift productivity and growth in Italy, but would require greater investment and a financial system capable of supporting innovation.
2 July 2026
By Laura Contemori – ROME (Econostream) – The Bank of Italy’s €-coin indicator, a measure of underlying Eurozone economic growth, declined to 0.39 in June from 0.45 in May, according to a joint release by the Bank of Italy and the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) on Thursday.
2 July 2026
By Marta Vilar – SINTRA, Portugal (Econostream) – European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said on Wednesday that upside risks to inflation and downside risks to growth in the euro area had become “more broadly balanced” in recent weeks.
1 July 2026
By Marta Vilar – SINTRA, Portugal (Econostream) – European Central Bank Vice President Boris Vujčić on Wednesday indicated that preliminary June euro area inflation data were not too far from expectations and that the ECB was not foreclosing on any of its policy options ahead of the July meeting.
1 July 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Mārtiņš Kazāks on Wednesday said the urgency of consecutive interest rate increases had decreased significantly and that the ECB did not currently need to respond forcefully to inflation.
1 July 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Joachim Nagel on Wednesday said July and September remained open for possible further policy action, citing uncertainty about whether the recent decline in energy prices would prove sustainable.
1 July 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Martin Kocher on Wednesday said the ECB’s coming meetings would likely be about whether to leave monetary policy unchanged or raise interest rates further.
1 July 2026