Good afternoon, the Vice-President and I welcome you to our press conference. The Governing Council today decided to lower the three key ECB interest rates by 25 basis points. In particular, the decision to lower the deposit facility rate – the rate through which we steer the monetary policy stance – is based on our updated assessment of the inflation outlook, the dynamics of underlying inflation and the strength of monetary policy transmission. Inflation is currently at around our two per...

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The European Commission has set up a new surveillance tool to help protect the EU against sudden and potentially disruptive surges in imports. This system aims to prevent harmful trade diversion, which occurs when a significant amount of goods that cannot enter other markets due to high tariffs and other restrictions are redirected into the EU. By providing fact-based information building on customs data, the surveillance tool will enable the Commission to swifty identify any such import surges and...

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The 2025 European Semester Spring Package analyses the key economic and social challenges across the EU and offers policy guidance to Member States with the aim of strengthening competitiveness, prosperity and resilience. To that effect, it includes country-specific recommendations (CSRs), and promotes reforms and investments aligned with these EU priorities. The policy guidance presented comes at a time of a particularly volatile trade and security environment. It is closely linked to the Competitiveness Compass, the Commission's five-year roadmap to boost the EU's resilience and...

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Ministers have concluded this week’s 2025 Council Meeting at Ministerial Level (MCM). Under the Chairmanship of Costa Rica, with Australia, Canada and Lithuania as Vice-Chairs, Ministers and high-level representatives met for discussions around the theme “Leading the Way towards Resilient, Inclusive, and Sustainable Prosperity through Rules-Based Trade, Investment and Innovation”.   Read the Statement of the Chair of the 2025 MCM. The MCM is the OECD’s highest-level forum, attended by Ministers of Finance, Economy, Foreign Affairs, Trade and other high-level representatives from OECD...

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Today's proposal by the European Commission sets the 2026 EU budget at €193.26 billion, complemented by an estimated €105.32 billion in disbursements under NextGenerationEU. Building on the mid-term revision of the EU's Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), next year's draft budget is designed to support strategic objectives, including support for Ukraine, competitiveness, migration management, security and defence, and strategic investments, while maintaining momentum on green and digital priorities. This budget proposal comes after a series of unpredicted developments over the 2021-2027...

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Global economic prospects are weakening, with substantial barriers to trade, tighter financial conditions, diminishing confidence and heightened policy uncertainty projected to have adverse impacts on growth, according to the OECD’s latest Economic Outlook. The Outlook projects global growth slowing from 3.3% in 2024 to 2.9% in both 2025 and 2026. The slowdown is expected to be most concentrated in the United States, Canada, Mexico and China, with smaller downward adjustments in other economies. GDP growth in the United States is projected to...

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