Overview
The meeting at which the European Central Bank's Governing Council sets monetary policy. Held eight times a year, it decides the three key ECB rates — the main refinancing, deposit facility, and marginal lending rates. The most important event for the euro area's monetary policy, followed by the President's press conference.
Meeting summary （published 2025-12-18）
On 18 December 2025 the ECB Governing Council kept the three key rates unchanged (deposit facility 2.00%, main refinancing 2.15%, marginal lending 2.40%). Its updated assessment reconfirmed that inflation should stabilise at the 2% target over the medium term. New staff projections saw headline inflation at 2.1% (2025), 1.9% (2026), 1.8% (2027) and 2.0% (2028), and core at 2.4%, 2.2%, 1.9% and 2.0%. Growth was revised up to 1.4% (2025), 1.2% (2026) and 1.4% in both 2027 and 2028. APP and PEPP portfolios continued declining without reinvestment. The Council maintained a data-dependent, meeting-by-meeting approach with no pre-commitment to a rate path.