"I am an owl," joked Pablo Hernández de Cos in a session of the Círculo Ecuestre de Barcelona colloquium series held in April 2024. The question invited him to take a stance between the two positions traditionally known in monetary policy: the hawk, which opts for more restrictive policies, and the dove, which opts for looser ones. De Cos, however, dodged the dilemma and opted to mimic the response of the person he aspires to have as his predecessor, Christine Lagarde: "President Lagarde was asked this question and said she was neither a hawk nor a dove, that we are all owls.".

Alexis de Tocqueville, describing riots in Paris during the revolution of 1848, said that the French Revolution was beginning again "because it is always the same". Certainly, the French like revolts: after the Paris Commune in 1871, came May 1968 and the yellow vests in 2018, among others, such as the disturbances originated in the peripheral banlieues by many who are disaffected with the Republic. I have lived in France and I was a witness to a permanent dissatisfaction among many sectors. This time, the triggers have been the students, and the yellow vests have joined in. The unions want to call a general strike in November so as not to lose their footing in the social movement. Here there is also one called for the right to housing for the same reason and to influence the elections at the end of November. A strike not against the government, but against the opposition. When we see that young people from the periphery of Barcelona vandalize and steal in the city's shops, the red lights flash. In France, Le Pen's campaign for the presidential elections is already done: "I will restore the order that the incapable Macron has not known how to impose for many years".

The European Central Bank (ECB) announced this Thursday that it is maintaining interest rates at 2.5% in a context of uncertainty due to the energy crisis, which has caused energy prices to soar. The institution warns that this situation could put pressure on inflation and slow down growth in the eurozone, and has therefore opened the door to raising the price of money again in December.

"If I had anything to announce, you would be the first to know after my grandchildren," asserted the president of the European Central Bank (ECB), Christine Lagarde, when a Bloomberg journalist asked her if she would leave the institution to go to the World Economic Forum. The rumor about a possible early departure of Lagarde has been circulating for months in the economic press. In February, the Financial Times reported that she was considering stepping down before her term ended in October 2027, to allow Emmanuel Macron and Friedrich Merz to influence the choice of her successor before the 2027 French presidential elections.

The fact that the European Central Bank (ECB) is raising interest rates is the main measure it has to fight against the high inflation we are experiencing, largely caused by the cost of fuel. As individuals, how does this affect us? In short, money will be more expensive for everyone. If the price of money is higher, financing will be too. Consider that, when a bank calculates the interest rate of a loan, the operating margin is added to its cost. Therefore, we can expect an increase in the cost of new consumer loans.

Buying a car in installments, taking out a loan to renovate a house, or financing a business investment will be a little more expensive. The European Central Bank (ECB) has decided to increase interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point, to 2.5%, with the aim of curbing the price escalation caused by the war in Iran.

The meeting of central bankers, academics, politicians and businessmen in Jackson Hole – the mountain area of the state of Wyoming, in the United States – which began this Thursday, marks the economic week and the start of the course. The summit, which lasts until Saturday, has an impact not only on the world's leading economy, but on that of the entire planet. It is expected that the president of the Federal Reserve (the Fed) of the USA, the country's central bank, Kevin Warsh, who replaced Jerome Powell last May, will give clues this Friday in his speech as host about his policy against inflation. In the time he has been in office, he has not yet clarified it. Despite assuring that his objective is that the general increase in prices be 2%, far from the current level, he has not explained what path he will follow to achieve it. This has generated doubts among investors.

Christine Lagarde, President of the European Central Bank, assured this Wednesday that the European growth model of recent decades, driven by globalization, cheap energy and a stable world order, "is eroding". Thus, according to the ECB leader, it is unlikely that the European growth rate will return to what it was before. For this reason, Lagarde has pointed out the need not to miss the revolution that artificial intelligence represents and has assured that, to achieve this, it will be necessary to reduce the fragmentation of the European market to allow for more investment and for companies to gain scale to compete.

The British-origin neobank Revolut obtained a full banking license in France this Monday, after a joint evaluation by the European Central Bank (ECB) and the French supervisory body, the Prudential Supervision and Resolution Authority (ACPR, for its French acronym).

The President of the European Central Bank (ECB), Christine Lagarde, has presented the ten finalist proposals for the new design of the euro banknotes. European citizens have until September 21 to vote for their preferred option [this is the link to take the survey] and they are expected to begin printing in the coming years, although the financial institution has not set a specific date.

The meeting of the Governing Council of the European Central Bank (ECB) has been transitional. After raising interest rates by about 0.25 percentage points last month, Frankfurt has avoided making a move while awaiting developments in the Middle East and has kept them at 2.25% this Thursday.

The European Central Bank (ECB) has urged the main financial institutions in the euro area to present "by October 31, 2026" a comprehensive action plan with concrete measures to address cybersecurity threats related to cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) models, such as Mythos, developed by Anthropic.

The President of the European Central Bank (ECB), Christine Lagarde, leaves the door open to leaving her post at the institution early to contribute to the debate around the next presidential elections in France, scheduled for April 2027. "It is possible," declared the also former French Finance Minister in an interview with the French newspaper Les Échos, to whom she was asked if she was considering leaving the presidency of the eurozone's highest monetary body to participate in political discussions in the country.

The European Central Bank (ECB) has decided to make a move to try to curb the rise in inflation caused by the war in the Middle East initiated by the United States and Israel. The rate of price increase in the eurozone has been moving away from Frankfurt's goal of keeping it at 2% annually for months, and finally, the financial institution has decided to act to prevent this percentage from growing further and has raised interest rates by 0.25 percentage points, to 2.25%.

The European Central Bank (ECB) has been holding its fire for months. It did not want to make a misstep and prematurely use the main tool at its disposal to curb inflation caused by the war in Iran initiated by the United States and Israel. However, the price increase remains upward and is moving further and further away from the goal of keeping it at an annual rate of 2%. For this reason, experts and markets anticipate that the body led by Christine Lagarde has already loaded its ammunition and will raise interest rates by 0.25 percentage points, to 2.25%, at this Thursday's meeting.

The European Central Bank (ECB) has once again warned of the financial dangers of the artificial intelligence (AI) sector, which is growing very rapidly, especially in the United States. In a report, the European monetary institution warns that large AI multinationals may be overvalued and could cause problems in the eurozone's financial sector.

The digital euro project has been on the lips of all European institutions for years. Ever since it was proposed in 2020, the European Central Bank (ECB) argued for its implementation, both to speed up payments between states in an increasingly digitized environment and to strengthen the strategic independence of the European Union. But six years later, public ignorance of the project remains high. According to a survey by the Foundation of Savings Banks (Funcas) published in February, only one in four Spaniards understands what it consists of.

Spanish banking has opted en masse for private digital money (stablecoin) linked to the euro. Banc Sabadell, Bankinter, Abanca, Kutxabank and Cecabank have joined the private consortium Qivalis, based in the Netherlands, as reported by ARA, and which also includes CaixaBank and BBVA. In this way, Spanish banking is the one with the most representatives in this society that began at the end of last year with 10 financial entities, which later increased to 12 and now number 37, with a presence in 15 countries.

When it is said that something can happen, it is likely to end up happening. This expression, used to refer to self-fulfilling prophecies, is common in the economic world. Throughout history, the belief that an event will occur has precipitated events. The list of examples is long: stock market crashes, compulsive consumer purchases, or deposit withdrawals are just a few. And citizens' expectations for controlling inflation are also a factor to consider.

The European Central Bank (ECB) remains cautious. The banking institution has once again avoided making a move prematurely and, despite the war in Iran and the rebound in inflation, has decided this Thursday to keep interest rates at 2% for the seventh consecutive meeting. In this way, the financial entity chaired by Christine Lagarde keeps its powder dry in case the situation worsens and, in fact, has already warned of "the high uncertainty" of the Eurozone's economic future due to the war initiated by Donald Trump.