Interview with Philip R. Lane, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB, conducted by Fabrizio Goria on 12 January 2026

16 January 2026

Two years ago the euro area went through one of the most severe inflationary shocks in its recent history. What is the situation today?

In 2021 and 2022 we had this very unusual and severe surge in inflation. The ECB responded with a forceful monetary policy tightening cycle, which has been successful in bringing inflation back towards our 2% target. This year is an important transition phase. Headline inflation is already around 2%, but if we look at the composition, we see that inflation excluding energy is still around 2.5%, while energy inflation is actually negative.

What should we expect?

Over the course of this year we expect to see a transition towards a more sustainable 2% inflation rate, where both services inflation and wage inflation come down. This puts the stabilisation of inflation at our 2 per cent target on a more secure basis. Our…