Interview with Luis de Guindos, Vice-President of the ECB, conducted by Andrés Stumpf on 27 May 2026

31 May 2026

After eight years in office, with no let-up between the pandemic, wars, the inflation shock and now the tension in the Middle East, what’s your assessment of your time as Vice-President of the European Central Bank?

I have two main impressions. The first is that time flies. The second is that when you look at everything that has happened, you realise that the world today is very different from what it was eight years ago.

The major change is that geopolitical risk now plays a much more prominent role, and this is reflected in all economic policy decisions. We have experienced a pandemic, the reopening of the economy, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, an increase in inflation and the arrival of a new US Administration, marking a paradigm shift in international relations. The world has completely changed.

With your departure from the Executive Board, Spain will temporarily be…