ECB's Radev says October and December meetings are both live, Econostream reports

• Waiting until second-round effects are fully visible could mean acting too late. - 2.5% not a "precise dividing line" but "probably around neutral"
• Sept. projections to show higher short term inflation and subdued growth
• Must take tighter financial conditions into account when making decision.

Framing both upcoming meetings as live is the standard device for keeping optionality priced into the front of the curve, and in past cycles such language from Governing Council members has tended to matter more for what it does to meeting-by-meeting rate expectations than for any policy content of its own. The more substantive tell is the neutral-rate remark: describing the deposit rate as probably around neutral is the formulation officials have historically used when the committee is shifting from an easing bias toward an on-hold posture, effectively pre-arguing that further cuts need fresh justification rather than being the default. The sequencing is familiar: projection upgrades to near-term inflation alongside subdued growth have, in comparable episodes, been the cover for patience, with hawkish-leaning members from smaller central banks typically out early with this framing before the centre of the Council adopts it. The point about second-round effects and acting too late is the classic argument against waiting for full confirmation, and has usually surfaced on the hawkish side of internal debates. Worth noting is whether other members echo the live-meeting language or push back on it, and how the next staff projections line up against the characterisation given here.