By Marta Vilar – MADRID (Econostream) – European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said on Wednesday that domestic demand was expected to remain the main source of euro area growth this year, arguing that Europe needed to turn its recent domestic resilience into a more lasting engine of economic expansion.
19 August 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Chief Economist Philip Lane on Tuesday pushed back against the idea that the ECB should refrain from raising interest rates because of the resulting burden on mortgage borrowers, saying tolerating excessively high inflation as a consequence would be a "false economy."
18 August 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Olli Rehn said the ECB should retain forward guidance as a monetary policy instrument, arguing that the euro area's relatively low neutral interest rate leaves it more exposed than the United States to the effective lower bound, while warning against guidance that constrains policymakers' freedom of action.
18 August 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – The Dutch government supports a possible candidacy by former De Nederlandsche Bank President Klaas Knot to succeed Christine Lagarde as president of the European Central Bank, according to the Dutch Finance Ministry.
5 August 2026
By Laura Contemori – ROME (Econostream) – The Bank of Italy’s €-coin indicator, a measure of underlying euro area economic growth, rose to 0.54 in July from 0.39 in June, according to a joint release by the Bank of Italy and the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) published Tuesday.
4 August 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Martin Kocher said Friday that uncertainty surrounding the inflation outlook remained high, with geopolitical developments capable of rapidly affecting energy prices.
31 July 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Yannis Stournaras said Thursday that policymakers should retain full freedom to move interest rates in either direction as they assessed the medium-term inflation outlook.
30 July 2026
By David Barwick – NICOSIA (Econostream) – Following is the full transcript of the interview conducted by Econostream on 28 July 2026 with Christodoulos Patsalides, Governor of the Central Bank of Cyprus and member of the Governing Council of the European Central Bank:
29 July 2026
By David Barwick – NICOSIA (Econostream) – The passage of time is working against the European Central Bank on inflation as elevated oil prices persist, increasing the importance of pre-emptive action even though the September decision remains open and data-dependent, according to ECB Governing Council member Christodoulos Patsalides.
29 July 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Peter Kažimír’s declaration Monday in a blog post that he expects to back another rate hike in September deserves attention, but his record suggests that his misses are more revealing than his hits.
28 July 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Peter Kažimír said Monday that the latest evidence would have to be compelling to keep him from supporting a further interest rate increase at the ECB’s next monetary policy meeting.
27 July 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Ante Žigman on Saturday said the inflationary consequences of the energy shock would become clear only over the coming months and gave no signal on whether the next interest rate decision should produce another increase or an unchanged stance.
25 July 2026
By Marta Vilar – MADRID (Econostream) – Econostream’s ECB Tone Meter edged slightly lower this week in its Governing Council and Executive Board measures as policymakers struck a patient tone on further tightening while continuing to point to September as the next natural opportunity for reassessment.
24 July 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Gediminas Šimkus said Friday that a September interest rate increase was much more likely than another hold, while stressing that the Council would have additional inflation data before deciding.
24 July 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Executive Board member Philip Lane said Friday that the current energy shock was too large to ignore but had not reached a “red-alert” level requiring rapid action, with policymakers continuing to calibrate interest rates meeting by meeting.
24 July 2026
By Marta Vilar – MADRID (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Gabriel Makhlouf said on Friday that the ECB would be in a better position to determine the appropriate monetary policy stance at its September meeting, when policymakers will have a fresh set of projections and more incoming data.
24 July 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Ante Žigman said Friday that renewed hostilities between the United States and Iran would strengthen inflation pressures and weigh on euro area economic activity.
24 July 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Olli Rehn said Friday that it was appropriate to leave interest rates unchanged while policymakers monitored the Middle East conflict and awaited new forecasts and analysis in September.
24 July 2026
By Marta Vilar – MADRID (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Emmanuel Moulin said on Friday that conditions had moved back closer to the ECB's June baseline, saying this was why policymakers had left interest rates unchanged at their July meeting.
24 July 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Martin Kocher said Friday that data arriving over the coming weeks would determine whether the ECB raises interest rates again in September or holds them steady.
24 July 2026