Peter Kazimir, the Governor of the National Bank of Slovakia and a sitting member of the ECB Governing Council, just made the quiet part loud. A June interest rate hike from the European Central Bank is, in his words, “all but inevitable.”
The driving force behind this hawkish posture is familiar: inflation that refuses to behave. Rising energy costs, fueled by the ongoing Iran war, are pushing prices across the eurozone higher than the ECB would like.
What Kazimir actually said
Kazimir’s comments, made on May 4, 2026, represent the clearest signal yet that the ECB is preparing to tighten monetary policy again. He acknowledged that the central bank needs to stay flexible and data-driven.
The core concern is that inflation may persist above the ECB’s 2% target for longer than anyone in Frankfurt would prefer. Estimates suggest the rate could climb to 2.6% before eventually settling back down to that target.
