ECB invites EU Commission chief to speak in effort to improve dialogue, sources say

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde has invited European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to speak to policymakers in January in what could become a more regular part of the central bank’s outreach programme, sources said.

Von der Leyen will speak to ECB governors and possibly selected staff the evening before the start of their Jan. 29-30 policy meeting in what the central bank hopes will create a dialogue and help better align various policy areas, according to four sources, who asked not to be named.

An ECB spokesman declined to comment.

Sources said the aim was to make such meetings regular though they would not necessarily take place before each policy meeting and they would not be formal part of Governing Council meetings.

Policy meetings will continue to start on Wednesdays with staff seminars, followed by a separate dinner the same evening, where only policymakers meet without staff to discuss monetary policy in an informal setting.

A key issue in recent years has been that monetary policy was not always aligned with other policies, leaving the ECB to carry an extraordinary burden or to fight exceptional headwinds.

In the era of low inflation, the ECB was trying to stimulate growth when fiscal policy was not helping enough, while during the recent inflationary surge, excess subsidies in some countries were making the ECB’s job harder.

External guests at meetings are not unprecedented and Valdis Dombrovskis, the European Commission’s vice-president, regularly attends them, as stipulated in the EU treaty. The ECB also welcomed both public and private sector guests for an informal retreat in Ireland earlier this year.