Explainers
Plain-language pieces on eurozone inflation and ECB policy — the forces behind the numbers, grounded in the official data.
10-year government bond yields, explained — and why they differ inside the euro area
Nineteen governments borrow in the same currency at nineteen different prices. What the 10-year yield actually measures, why the German Bund is the benchmark, and what a spread is telling you.
Croatia after the euro: what actually happened to prices
Croatia adopted the euro in January 2023 amid fears that shops would round everything up. Two years on, the data tells a more interesting story than the headlines did.
Where is euro-area inflation heading? How to read the official forecasts
Searching for an inflation forecast returns a wall of numbers with different dates and owners. Which projections are official, how often each updates, and how to tell a forecast from a market bet.
How the ECB sets interest rates — and how a decision reaches your mortgage
Three policy rates, one target, a meeting every six weeks. What the Governing Council actually decides, and the path a rate change travels before it lands in loan offers and bond yields.
Mortgage rates across the euro area: why your country pays more (or less)
One ECB rate, very different mortgage bills. The fixed-versus-floating split, national banking quirks, and what actually decides the rate a household in Helsinki or Paris gets offered.
One currency, twenty-one inflation rates — why euro-area countries diverge
Every euro country shares the same money and the same central bank, yet their inflation rates can sit percentage points apart. The gap is structural, not a statistical quirk.
Why Irish inflation often reads differently from what Dublin feels
Ireland can post one of the euro area's tamer HICP rates while households swear everything is dearer. The gap is real and has names: housing's odd place in the index, and a very open economy.
Why Romania's inflation keeps topping the EU charts
Romania has spent much of the past years at or near the top of the EU inflation ranking. The causes are specific and mostly home-grown: unwound price caps, tax rises, fast wages and a stubborn deficit.
Why Spain's youth unemployment stays so stubbornly high
Spain's under-25 unemployment rate has topped European charts for decades, in booms as well as busts. The causes are structural — and knowing them changes how to read every monthly release.
Bulgaria joins the euro — what it means for inflation
On 1 January 2026 Bulgaria became the 21st member of the euro area. Because the lev was already pegged to the euro, the monetary shock is small — but the inflation story is worth understanding.
Why Baltic inflation runs hotter than Germany's under one ECB rate
Lithuania's harmonised inflation is running near 5% while Germany's sits below 3% — under the exact same central bank. The gap is structural, and it is the clearest illustration of the euro's "one size fits none" problem.
HICP vs CPI — why eurozone inflation uses a different yardstick
The number the ECB targets is the HICP, not your country's national CPI. They usually move together, but the differences are real and occasionally large enough to matter.