By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde on Wednesday said Europe’s leaders had to act on former ECB President Mario Draghi’s diagnosis of the bloc’s weaknesses, warning that Europe’s unfinished institutional architecture was being tested by a harsher global environment.
13 May 2026
– European Central Bank Executive Board member Philip Lane on Wednesday said an energy-driven inflation overshoot that proved...
– European Central Bank Governing Council member Madis Müller said on Wednesday that for the ECB to avoid hiking interest...
– European Central Bank Governing Council member Primož Dolenc said Wednesday that higher energy prices had so far had only...
– We wouldn’t claim that European Central Bank Governing Council member Martin Kocher sounded on balance like a dove...
By David Barwick and Marta Vilar – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – Following is the transcript of the interview conducted by Econostream on 11 May 2026 with Martin Kocher, Governor of the Austrian National Bank and member of the Governing Council of the European Central Bank:
13 May 2026
By Marta Vilar and David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – A European Central Bank interest rate hike should not be considered the baseline for June, although keeping rates unchanged through year-end would be difficult if price developments failed to improve, according to ECB Governing Council member Martin Kocher.
13 May 2026
By Marta Vilar – MADRID (Econostream) – Following is the full transcript of the interview conducted by Econostream on 6 May 2026 with Rasa Kavolytè, Director of State Treasury Department of the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Lithuania.
6 May 2026
Rasa Kavolytė, Director of Lithuanian Treasury: Still have up to €2.5 billion to raise via syndications in 2026
Kavolytė: We prefer launching new benchmarks in syndicated transactions
Kavolytė: Investor demand strongest in the belly of the curve
Kavolytė: No green bond issuance planned in the near term
Kavolytė: No current plans to target institutional investors with defense bonds
Kavolytė: Lithuania not planning to extend defense bond program to longer maturities
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde on Wednesday said Europe’s leaders had to act on former ECB President Mario Draghi’s diagnosis of the bloc’s weaknesses, warning that Europe’s unfinished institutional architecture was being tested by a harsher global environment.
13 May 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Executive Board member Philip Lane on Wednesday said an energy-driven inflation overshoot that proved material and persistent could require a monetary policy response, while saying current evidence still showed limited broader effects from the Middle East shock.
13 May 2026
By Marta Vilar – MADRID (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Madis Müller said on Wednesday that for the ECB to avoid hiking interest rates, the Strait of Hormuz would have to be opened quickly.
13 May 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member Primož Dolenc said Wednesday that higher energy prices had so far had only limited indirect effects on the broader economy, but warned that the Middle East conflict could still push up inflation expectations and consumer prices.
13 May 2026
By Laura Contemori – ROME (Econostream) – The Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) allotted an additional €1 billion of Treasury bills (BOTs) on Wednesday through supplementary auctions reserved for specialist dealers, according to results published by the Bank of Italy.
13 May 2026
By Laura Contemori – ROME (Econostream) – The Belgian Debt Agency (BDA) said on Wednesday that it had raised €8 billion on Tuesday through the syndication of a new five-year OLO maturing August 22, 2031.
13 May 2026
By Laura Contemori – ROME (Econostream) – The German Finance Agency (Finanzagentur) allotted a combined €2.125 billion in reopened Federal bonds (Bunds) on Wednesday across two long-dated maturities.
13 May 2026
By Laura Contemori – ROME (Econostream) – Portugal’s Treasury and Public Debt Management Agency (IGCP) allotted a combined €1.426 billion in government bond (OT) auctions on Wednesday across two maturities.
13 May 2026
As of 13 May 2026
By Marta Vilar – MADRID (Econostream) – Econostream’s ECB Tone Meter moved further into hawkish territory this week, with both the Governing Council and Executive Board indices penetrating deeper into the slightly hawkish range between +0.5 and +2.5.
8 May 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – We wouldn’t claim that European Central Bank Governing Council member Martin Kocher sounded on balance like a dove in our just-published interview with him, but to the extent he reflects the current thinking of Council hawks, the case for a June hike may still hang in the balance.
13 May 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde has not undone the hawkish signal of April 30, when she suggested that “directionally, I know where we're heading.” Still, she has made clearer that June 11 may be more open than markets believed.
11 May 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – Although her remarks on Thursday evening may have been taken hawkishly, European Central Bank Executive Board member Isabel Schnabel did not make the case that the ECB must raise rates in June, even if such an outcome seems likely from today’s perspective. Rather, while continuing to leave the ECB an escape hatch, she emphasized that waiting for wage growth to prove second-round effects could imply waiting too long.
8 May 2026
By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank Governing Council member François Villeroy de Galhau’s final monetary policy speech as Banque de France governor on Thursday was meant to be an exercise in humility. Hypocrisy won.
8 May 2026