--- title: "Piero Cipollone: Interview with ilsussidiario.net · Aug 24, 2026" description: "Cipollone gives a mostly structural interview: Single Market fragmentation, energy dependence, productivity, digital euro privacy." source: Helious canonical: "https://helious.io/news/ee68afb6442feeeae94327d63710b113/piero-cipollone-interview-with-ilsussidiario-net" --- Ecb 24 Aug 2026, 06:00 UTC # Piero Cipollone: Interview with ilsussidiario.net ## SPEECH DIGEST NEUTRAL medium confidence · 8.7k characters read Cipollone gives a mostly structural interview: Single Market fragmentation, energy dependence, productivity, digital euro privacy. The only rates-relevant content is his read on the oil/Hormuz shock: stagflation risk is "rather remote", the euro area economy is proving more resilient than expected, and inflation is tracking the June baseline rather than the adverse scenarios. He also argues explicitly against hiking into a supply shock, saying the job is anchoring expectations rather than chasing energy prices. **What’s new: **Close to nothing material. The anti-hike-into-supply-shock line is standard Cipollone and standard ECB doctrine. The mildly useful data point is his confirmation that inflation and growth are still inside the June baseline, not the adverse or severe scenarios, and that activity has surprised on the resilient side. Everything on the Single Market, fiscal targeting, national escape clause and digital euro design is already public. ### KEY FINDINGS - On the energy shock: "hiking interest rates so as to stabilise inflation around the target could dampen economic growth that is already affected by a negative shock", so policy "needs to be well calibrated", with central banks limited to anchoring expectations. Confirms the dovish wing will not endorse a hawkish response to an oil-driven inflation impulse, capping any hike pricing on energy headlines. - Stagflation risk called "rather remote": crisis signs of resolution, oil price reflecting that, inflation "in line with the baseline scenario of the most recent projections published last June" and "a long way from the adverse and severe scenarios". No reason for the Governing Council to reopen the projection round, which supports an on-hold baseline and keeps risk premium out of the front end. - Euro area economy "is slowing", but "proving to be more resilient than expected". Trims the tail of a near-term cut being forced by growth deterioration. - Adjustment to the shock should come from temporary, targeted fiscal support plus faster renewables build-out under the amended national escape clause, not from monetary policy. Signals ECB comfort with more national investment spending flexibility, marginally more supply and marginally steeper curve over time, but no near-term rates content. - Digital euro framed as complement to cash, offline-capable, with the Eurosystem unable to identify users; only banks can. Deposit-disintermediation and privacy fears stay contained: negligible for bank funding assumptions on a 2029 timeline. ### FROM THE DOCUMENT In the event of a supply side shock, such as the oil shock, hiking interest rates so as to stabilise inflation around the target could dampen economic growth that is already affected by a negative shock. Moreover, the latest available data indicate that, although the European economy is slowing, it is proving to be more resilient than expected, while inflation remains in line with the baseline scenario of the most recent projections published last June and seems to be a long way from the adverse and severe scenarios. No one has a crystal ball, but I think that risk is rather remote. Yes, but such measures should be temporary, targeted and limited to whoever really needs them. What can be done to try to strengthen European firms, now that they are once again facing challenges because of external shocks? First and foremost, we should try to capitalise on our advantages – the main one being the huge European Single Market. This can enable firms to expand their business, thereby achieving economies of scale that in turn reduce production costs – particularly in IT, finance and traditional manufacturing sectors such as the automotive sector. However, as is well documented in the reports by Mario Draghi and Enrico Letta, we are unable to exploit this advantage because of restrictions on the free movement of goods and services even within the European Single Market. They prevent firms from expanding and achieving the level of efficiency that would allow the EU to compete with the other global giants. [ Read the full ECB interview at the source →](https://www.ecb.europa.eu//press/inter/date/2026/html/ecb.in260824~fa5acbddea.en.html) Copy link [Follow this live in the terminal →](https://helious.io/)