Why Do Prices Still Feel High? Christine Lagarde Explains EU Inflation Gap at Key Monetary Dialogue!

📅 Feb 26, 2026 EU Debates | eudebates.tv 13 MIN 206 VIEWS 33 SEGMENTS · 2 SPEAKERS

At the European Parliament’s Monetary Dialogue with the ECON Committee, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde addressed one of Europe’s most pressing economic questions: why citizens still feel inflation rising even as official figures fall. Speaking alongside ECON Chair Aurore Lalucq, Lagarde confirmed inflation has dropped sharply from its 10.6% peak in 2022 to 1.7% in January — close to the ECB’s 2% target. She warned, however, that the gap between measured inflation and public perception affects consumer behaviour, wage demands and trust in institutions. Highlighting resilie...

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President Lagarde, the floor is yours.

1 more exchange in this transcript

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APA

Lagarde, C. (2026, February 26). Why Do Prices Still Feel High? Christine Lagarde Explains EU Inflation Gap at Key Monetary Dialogue! [Interview transcript]. EU Debates | eudebates.tv. CEOInterviews.AI. https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/918214/

MLA

Christine Lagarde. "Why Do Prices Still Feel High? Christine Lagarde Explains EU Inflation Gap at Key Monetary Dialogue!." EU Debates | eudebates.tv, 26 Feb. 2026. Transcript, CEOInterviews.AI, https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/918214/.

BibTeX

@misc{lagarde2026_918214,
  author       = {Christine Lagarde},
  title        = {Why Do Prices Still Feel High? Christine Lagarde Explains EU Inflation Gap at Key Monetary Dialogue!},
  howpublished = {Interview transcript, EU Debates | eudebates.tv. CEOInterviews.AI},
  year         = {2026},
  month        = {feb},
  url          = {https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/918214/},
  note         = {Speaker-attributed transcript with timestamps}
}

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Key Quotes (5)

“Inflation has fallen markedly from its peak at 10.6% in October 2022. It fluctuated in a narrow range around 2% in the second half of last year and stood on the last reading at 1.7% in January.”

▶ 1:44 POLICY

“The ECB's decisive monetary policy response played a crucial role in bringing inflation back to target. However, even though inflation has declined, surveys show that many citizens still perceive prices to be rising faster than the official data suggest.”

▶ 2:00 POLICY

“Inflation perceptions describe people's beliefs about recent price changes. And while these perceptions tend to move with measured inflation, they are typically higher. And this is not a phenomenon that is specific to the Euro area. It's a global phenomenon that is observed around the world.”

▶ 6:46 POLICY

“First and foremost, we must continue to deliver on our primary objective, ensuring that inflation stabilizes at our symmetric 2% target over the medium term. Do it and communicate about it so that it is understood.”

▶ 10:52 POLICY

“Our role is to focus on delivering our mandate and explain not only what we do but also why and how we do it and to do so in a way that can be easily understood. So I hope we can continue working together to understand exactly what the expectations are and to assuage the concerns where they're not relevant and to try to reduce this gap between perceived inflation and actually measured inflation.”

▶ 13:00 POLICY

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About Christine Lagarde

Christine Lagarde, President of the European Central Bank (ECB), has been active in public engagements over the past two months, addressing monetary policy, inflation, and the digital euro. At the CNN Global Perspectives event in Bangkok in October 2026, she stated that fiscal discipline, particularly in countries like France, is the primary solution to rising bond yields, and she argued that Europe's economic growth is stronger than often perceived, citing upward revisions to 1.1% for 2026. She also discussed the impact of energy shocks from the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, saying the ECB does not react to energy prices directly but monitors for second-round effects on inflation. Lagarde reaffirmed the ECB's commitment to its 2% medium-term inflation target, noting that inflation is projected to remain above target until the end of 2027 or 2028. On the digital euro, Lagarde announced that the Eurosystem will launch "Pontes," a distributed-ledger infrastructure for banks, on September 21, 2026, and expressed hope that the legislative process for the digital euro would be completed by the end of the year, with a pilot expected in mid-2027. She described the digital euro as a means for Europe to maintain control over its payment infrastructure, while acknowledging a role for stablecoins in moving crypto assets into fiat currency. In September, the ECB's Governing Council raised key interest rates by 25 basis points, a decision Lagarde described as a "no-brainer" and a unanimous choice to address inflation pressures. She also spoke on artificial intelligence, noting its potential to transform productivity and inflation dynamics, and emphasized the need for Europe to achieve "AI sovereignty."

All Christine Lagarde appearances → EU Debates | eudebates.tv on YouTube →