Lagarde Wants Your Opinion on ECB’s Monetary Policy for Review
Lagarde Wants Your Opinion on ECB’s Monetary Policy for Review
(Bloomberg) --
European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde kicked off a public consultation on her strategy review with the first direct video address by the institution’s chief to euro-area citizens.
Adopting a communication technique untested by her predecessors, the Frenchwoman spoke to camera to invite views on monetary policy in a broadcast on Twitter released in tandem with a press statement outlining the ECB’s plans.
“The euro actually belongs to all of us -- it belongs to you,” Lagarde said in the video. “So we need to hear from you in this strategy review. Stable prices help you make decisions in many aspects of your life, from saving to borrowing, and from spending to investing. Please share your ideas and concerns with us.”
In the press statement, the ECB announced it is creating a website to submit ideas and where the review, which is set to last until December, will be explained. Lagarde, in that release, promised to listen to the public “with an open mind.”
The ECB chief has pledged that the institution’s first such assessment since 2003 will leave no stone unturned by tackling topics ranging from the inflation target to policy side effects and the ways that the central bank could fight climate change.
Lagarde will chair an initial listening event with citizens and civil-society representatives on March 26 in Brussels, days after hearing academics and financial-sector participants during its annual “The ECB and Its Watchers” conference in Frankfurt.
To contact the reporter on this story: Piotr Skolimowski in Frankfurt at pskolimowski@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Paul Gordon at pgordon6@bloomberg.net, Craig Stirling, Jana Randow
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