By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – The European Central Bank’s current interest rate level is appropriate and financial markets’ rate expectations appear broadly aligned with the baseline outlook, according to European Central Bank Governing Council member Mārtiņš Kazāks.
19 January 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Mārtiņš Kazāks warned that European policymakers should not be “naive” about the bloc’s exposure to Russia and said the financial system needed to be prepared for escalation.
18 January 2026
By Marta Vilar – MADRID (Econostream) – This week the ECB Tone Meter moved in opposite directions for the Governing Council and the Executive Board, settling at +0.9 and +0.13 respectively, with both readings remaining in very marginally hawkish territory.
16 January 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – The European Central Bank vice president’s role is defined by three core tasks, according to ECB Governing Council member Olli Rehn.
16 January 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Chief Economist Philip Lane’s La Stampa interview published today was disciplined in form—baseline first, uncertainty explicit, reaction function articulated—but not perfectly neutral in substance. Using our ECB Tone Meter , we scored the intervention at -0.25: dovish, though only marginally.
16 January 2026
By David Barwick and Marta Vilar – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – The Baltic states have moved to reclaim the initiative in the contest to succeed European Central Bank Vice President Luis de Guindos, issuing a joint statement that frames the appointment as a question of representation and seeks to keep a “Baltic turn” argument alive.
16 January 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Chief Economist Philip Lane on Wednesday gave markets a line they will not forget quickly: “The current level of the interest rate delivers the baseline for the next several years.”
16 January 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Chief Economist Philip Lane on Friday said euro area inflation was moving onto a more durable 2% footing and suggested interest rates were likely to remain broadly stable unless the outlook shifted materially.
16 January 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – The European Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs committee has moved unusually early in the contest to succeed European Central Bank Vice President Luis de Guindos, with its coordinators backing Latvia’s Mārtiņš Kazāks and Portugal’s Mário Centeno as the preferred candidates after informal exchanges of views with all six contenders.
15 January 2026
By Marta Vilar – MADRID (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Mārtiņš Kazāks said on Thursday that the US government's attacks on the Federal Reserved increased risks to the outlook as lower central bank independence would likely raise inflation in the US.
15 January 2026
By Marta Vilar – MADRID (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Fabio Panetta said on Thursday that Italy’s economic growth had softened in recent months, driven mainly by geopolitical and trade tensions alongside weak domestic demand, adding that forecasts pointed to only a modest expansion in the years ahead.
15 January 2026
By Marta Vilar – MADRID (Econostream) – European Central Bank Vice President Luis de Guindos said on Thursday that financial markets place high value on central bank independence because it underpins confidence that inflation will remain under control.
15 January 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – Following Wednesday's hearings at the European Parliament in Brussels with all candidates hoping to succeed European Central Bank Vice President Luis de Guindos, Aurore Lalucq, Chair of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, issued the following statement:
14 January 2026
By Marta Vilar – MADRID (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member François Villeroy de Galhau said on Wednesday that the downside risks to inflation were “at least as high” as the upside risks and that a further slide in the US dollar if the Federal Reserve’s independence were weakened, could be one such disinflationary risk.
14 January 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Mārtiņš Kazāks on Wednesday said the ECB has fulfilled its mandate and could be more confident, but stressed that policymakers are not complacent about inflation.
14 January 2026
By Marta Vilar – MADRID (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Olli Rehn said on Wednesday that the ECB was seeing a growing influx of low-priced goods into Europe and that China had been increasing its exports to the bloc.
14 January 2026
By Marta Vilar – MADRID (Econostream) – European Central Bank Vice President Luis de Guindos said on Wednesday that rising geopolitical tensions significantly increased downside risks to economic growth and that wage growth was expected to moderate in the coming quarters and stabilize toward the end of 2026.
14 January 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – Estonian Finance Minister Jürgen Ligi’s endorsement of Eesti Pank Governor Madis Müller as having a “very good track record” is less an attempt to declare victory than a window into a contest that remains unusually fluid.
14 January 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – With six candidacies to succeed European Central Bank Vice President Luis de Guindos now formally established following the close of nominations last Friday, the appointment process is moving into its next phase.
14 January 2026
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