Christine Lagarde, President of the ECB,
Boris Vujčić, Vice-President of the ECB

Berlin, 10 September 2026

Good afternoon, the Vice-President and I welcome you to our press conference. I would like to thank President Nagel for his kind hospitality and express our special gratitude to his staff for the excellent organisation of today’s meeting of the Governing Council.

The Governing Council today decided to raise the three key ECB interest rates by 25 basis points. The conflict in the Middle East continues to generate inflation pressures, and inflation is set to remain well above target for an extended period. Today’s decision underscores our commitment to setting monetary policy to ensure that inflation stabilises at our two per cent target in the medium term.

The baseline of the new ECB staff projections sees headline inflation averaging 3.0 per cent in 2026, 2.5 per cent in 2027 and 2.1 per cent in 2028. For inflation excluding energy and food, the baseline foresees…