The ECB and Its Watchers XXV
Celebrating its 25th edition, "The ECB and Its Watchers XXV" on March 12, 2025 once again brought together central bankers, financial market participants and academics to discuss current issues of monetary policy and financial stability.
The conference focused on topics relevant to the ECB strategy review that is to be carried out in the course of 2025. It aimed to contribute to the information gathering activities of the ECB and the Governing Council for the purposes of the review. As in 2020, Governing Council members took more of a listening role and chaired the different sessions rather than joining actively in the debate with non-ECB experts as in previous years.
IMFS managing director and organizer of the conference series, Volker Wieland, opened the conference, followed by ECB President Christine Lagarde who gave the President’s Address.
Debate 1, chaired by Governor François Villeroy de Galhau (Banque de France) featured Silvana Tenreyro (London School of Economics), Klaus Adam, University College London, and Refet Gürkaynak, Bilkent University, who discussed the economic environment faced by the ECB’s monetary policy.
Debate 2 on the ECB’s monetary policy toolbox in light of past experience and future challenges was moderated by Governor José Luis Escrivá (Banco de España). The speakers Lucrezia Reichlin (London Business School), Tobias Adrian (International Monetary Fund), and Axel Weber (House of Finance and Center for Financial Studies), engaged in a lively discussion of the issues at hand.
Debate 3, chaired by President Joachim Nagel (Deutsche Bundesbank), focused on identifying potential needs for adjustment of the policy strategy and included as speakers Maurice Obstfeld, (Peterson Institute for International Economics), Athanasios Orphanides (MIT Sloan School of Management), and Volker Wieland (Institute for Monetary and Financial Stability).
The conference was wrapped up with closing remarks by ECB Chief Economist Philip Lane.
Speeches, slides, and videos of all sessions are available on our website: https://www.imfs-frankfurt.de/en/events/imfs-conferences/the-ecb-and-its-watchers/2025.html
