ECB's Dolenc says that the current ECB rate level ensures flexibility for the central bank's upcoming rate decisions

Language of this kind, framing the standing rate as one that buys the central bank room to move in either direction, is the standard vocabulary of a Governing Council in a holding phase: it signals optionality rather than intent, and historically such remarks have preceded extended pauses more often than imminent action. The tell in past ECB cycles has been whether optionality talk comes from the dovish or hawkish wing and whether it is echoed by officials closer to the centre, since it is the median voter that moves the OIS path rather than peripheral commentary. The distinction worth drawing is between flexibility as reassurance that cuts remain available and flexibility as a warning that hikes are not off the table; the framing matters more than the word itself. Remarks from a single member at this level of generality have tended to move the front end only at the margin, with the larger repricings in comparable episodes coming from the inflation prints and staff projections that follow. The follow-ons are whether peers adopt the same formulation in the coming days and how the comment sits against the most recent data pulse. As commentary rather than a decision, the signal is directional at best.