ECB President Christine Lagarde reiterated overnight that the Governing Council remains comfortable with its current policy stance, telling European lawmakers that inflation is still expected to stabilise at the 2% target over the medium term. In an environment marked by elevated uncertainty, Lagarde stressed that a “data-dependent, meeting-by-meeting approach to monetary policy serves us well.”
That message was reinforced by Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel, who said “many factors” point to the current level of interest rates being appropriate. Nagel downplayed recent inflation softness, arguing that the shortfall is “small, temporary deviations”, while medium-term inflation dynamics remain firmly aligned with the ECB’s target.
Nagel emphasised that policy action would only be warranted if medium-term inflation expectations deviated “sustainably and noticeably” from target — something he said is clearly not happening.
