As the world sees tectonic shifts, the European Union must raise to new and unprecedented challenges to ensure our competitiveness and security. The events of the last weeks make that clearer than ever. Our Union needs to be more independent, more autonomous, and more able to defend itself against any threats. In the first 100 days of its mandate, the von der Leyen Commission has already made important steps towards those goals. The Commission launched many initiatives to boost the EU’s competitiveness, strengthen its defence capabilities, and increase its level of preparedness. For the months and years ahead, we will once again need to shift gears to crisis mode. This Commission stands ready to answer these new challenges with exceptional actions at unprecedented scale, scope and speed. Make Europe more competitive • The Competitiveness Compass provides a roadmap to boost Europe’s competitiveness and secure its prosperity. • The Clean Industrial Deal and the Action Plan for Affor...
Economic, financial and monetary developments Overview At its meeting on 6 March 2025, the Governing Council decided to lower the three key ECB interest rates by 25 basis points. In particular, the decision to lower the deposit facility rate – the rate through which the Governing Council steers the monetary policy stance – is based on its updated assessment of the inflation outlook, the dynamics of underlying inflation and the strength of monetary policy transmission. The disinflation process is well on track. Inflation has continued to develop broadly as staff expected, and the March 2025 ECB staff macroeconomic projections for the euro area closely align with the previous inflation outlook. Staff now see headline inflation averaging 2.3% in 2025, 1.9% in 2026 and 2.0% in 2027. The upward revision in headline inflation for 2025 reflects stronger energy price dynamics. For inflation excluding energy and food, staff project an average of 2.2% in 2025, 2.0% in 2026 and 1.9% in 2027. ...