A request from The Left for a debate on the ECB’s decision on interest rates

On Monday 14 September 2026, Parliament voted on a motion by The Left to include on the agenda a statement by the Council and the Commission regarding the European Central Bank’s decision to raise interest rates and its impact on the rising cost of living. This was a procedural vote on the agenda, not a substantive decision on the ECB’s policy — yet it illustrates the stance of the various political groups on the issue. The motion was rejected by 154 votes in favour, 216 against, with 85 abstentions.

This was The Left’s second attempt. In June 2026, the group tabled a similar motion to include the same topic, but withdrew it before the vote took place. The vote was held in September and the motion was rejected.

The four democratic groups were clearly divided in their stance. The EPP voted against it almost unanimously, as did Renew. The Greens/EFA, by contrast, were unanimously in favour of including the debate. The S&D’s position remains unclear: the group formally voted in favour, but the overwhelming majority of its members present abstained — in effect, therefore, they withdrew from the decision-making process rather than supporting the motion.

The far right did not act as a unified bloc, so there is no question of an ultra-conservative majority that could have pushed the motion through or rejected it. The ECR voted against, but was significantly divided internally. The PfE, by contrast, was largely in favour of including the debate. The ESN voted against. The rejection thus did not follow a clear left-right pattern — the EPP, Renew and part of the far right were against, whilst the Greens/EFA, The Left and the majority of the PfE voted in favour.

Turnout was low — 455 votes were cast out of 717 seats, representing 63.5 per cent. This corresponds to the pattern typical of Monday sittings in Strasbourg, when MEPs are only just arriving: comparable Monday agenda votes from 2026 fall within the same range of 433 to 455 votes, whilst Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s votes in the same week reached 650 to 670, roughly 30 percentage points higher. The Greens/EFA had the highest turnout (around 87 per cent) — a group which was also the only one to be fully united in voting in favour. The ECR had the lowest turnout (around 40 per cent) – a group that was also the most internally divided; whether these two figures are related cannot be determined from the available data.

Meanwhile, the ECB continues to raise interest rates: it raised them for the second time this year on 10 September 2026, having done so for the first time in June 2026 after almost three years; in July, it left them unchanged. Inflation in the eurozone, meanwhile, did not rise in a straight line: it fell from 3.2 per cent in May to 2.8 per cent in June, then accelerated twice — to 2.9 per cent in July and to 3.3 per cent in August according to a flash estimate, the highest level since September 2023, driven mainly by energy prices in the wake of the conflict in the Middle East.