ECB's Makhlouf says he is uncomfortable with where it is, acknowledged that upside risks remain

• Indirect price impact is present but not intensifying, and no second-round effects have been observed.

Governing Council commentary of this kind sits in the familiar hawkish-dissident register: a governor flagging discomfort with the current stance while conceding no second-round effects is a hold-or-tighten bias, not a signal of imminent action. The telling element is the pairing, upside risks acknowledged but indirect effects not intensifying, which in past ECB cycles has been the language used to justify patience at the peak rather than to tee up a hike; historically the doves and hawks have converged on hold language once second-round effects are explicitly ruled out. Makhlouf has prior form as one of the Council's more cautious voices, so the remarks carry less repricing weight than the same phrasing from a centrist or from the Executive Board. The distinction that matters for the front end is whether discomfort with 'where it is' refers to the policy rate level or to the inflation path: the former challenges the terminal consensus, the latter only the timing of cuts. Worth noting is whether other governors echo the discomfort in coming sessions and how the remarks sit against the next round of negotiated wage and services inflation prints, the two series the ECB has consistently tied to second-round risk. As individual commentary rather than a collective signal, EONIA-dated OIS tend to fade such moves unless the tone is broadly adopted.