The European Central Bank (ECB), which sets interest rates for the countries that use the euro, has eight monetary policy meetings scheduled in 2027. The first runs Wednesday 3 and Thursday 4 February. The last runs 15 and 16 December. We wrote this page on 11 November 2026 from the ECB's own calendar.
The ECB states that its press conference after each decision starts at 14:45 CET, which stands for Central European Time.
What are the ECB meeting dates for 2027? The ECB's Governing Council, which votes on euro area interest rates, holds eight monetary policy meetings in 2027: 3-4 February, 17-18 March, 28-29 April, 9-10 June, 21-22 July, 8-9 September, 27-28 October, and 15-16 December.
Each meeting runs Wednesday to Thursday in Frankfurt. The decision and the press conference come on the Thursday.
The ECB publishes staff projections, which are outlooks for growth, inflation, wages, and unemployment from economists at the ECB and the euro area's national central banks, in March, June, September, and December. Its calendar does not mark which meetings carry them.
No monetary policy meeting falls in January, May, August, or November.
What are the ECB meeting dates for 2027?
The table lists the eight monetary policy meetings on the ECB's calendar. The decision day is the second day, which the calendar marks as followed by a press conference. The last column counts the days since the previous decision day.
Meeting | Decision day and press conference | Month of staff projections | Days since previous decision |
|---|---|---|---|
3-4 February | Thu 4 Feb | No | 49 |
17-18 March | Thu 18 Mar | Yes | 42 |
28-29 April | Thu 29 Apr | No | 42 |
9-10 June | Thu 10 Jun | Yes | 42 |
21-22 July | Thu 22 Jul | No | 42 |
8-9 September | Thu 9 Sep | Yes | 49 |
27-28 October | Thu 28 Oct | No | 49 |
15-16 December | Thu 16 Dec | Yes | 49 |
2027 ECB monetary policy meetings as listed on the ECB calendar on 11 November 2026. All run Wednesday to Thursday in Frankfurt. The ECB states the press conference time as 14:45 CET. The first gap counts from the 17 December 2026 decision. The ECB calendar does not mark which meetings carry staff projections: the column shows whether the meeting month is one of the four in which the ECB says it publishes them. Source: European Central Bank
All eight meetings run Wednesday to Thursday and take place in Frankfurt. The calendar also lists 2028, where the first monetary policy meeting is 2-3 February.
The calendar page gives dates without clock times. The press conference time comes from the ECB's press conference page.
Our FOMC meeting schedule page lists the dates of the US Federal Reserve's rate-setting group, the Federal Open Market Committee, while our Bank of Japan schedule covers Japan.
What are the other ECB meetings besides monetary policy?
The Governing Council is the main decision-making body of the ECB. It has the six members of the ECB's Executive Board plus the governors of the national central banks of the euro area countries. The euro area is the group of European Union countries that use the euro.
A monetary policy meeting is the one where the Council sets the ECB's key interest rates. The ECB describes these decisions as coming every six weeks. The 2027 calendar spaces them six or seven weeks apart.
The calendar lists six other Governing Council meetings in 2027. The ECB marks them as non-monetary. They fall on 24 February, 7 April, 19 May, 23 June, 29 September, and 24 November.
All are Wednesdays. Five are virtual, while the 24 November meeting takes place in Frankfurt.
The ECB says the Council discusses mainly the ECB's other tasks there. The calendar shows no press conference after any of the six.
The calendar also lists two General Council meetings, on Thursday 24 June (virtual) and Thursday 25 November (Frankfurt).
The General Council has the ECB's President and Vice-President plus the governors of the central banks of all European Union countries, including those that do not use the euro. It does not set euro area interest rates.
In all, the 2027 calendar has 24 meeting days: 16 for the eight monetary policy meetings, six for the non-monetary meetings, and two for the General Council.
What time are the ECB decision and press conference?
The ECB gives the press conference time as 14:45 CET. The President, assisted by the Vice-President, explains the decision and answers journalists' questions. As of 11 November 2026, the President is Christine Lagarde and the Vice-President is Boris Vujčić.
The ECB publishes a press release with the decision on the same day. The pages we opened give no release time. The 29 October 2026 release said the Council kept the three key ECB interest rates unchanged. They are 2.50% on bank deposits held at the ECB, 2.65% on its regular weekly loans to banks, and 2.90% on its overnight emergency loans.
The next decision day is 17 December 2026. The ECB's pages quote one time label, CET, for the press conference. We found no UK or US clock time on those pages, so this page gives none.
Which ECB meetings come with staff projections?
Staff projections are the ECB's published outlook for growth, inflation, wages, and unemployment in the euro area, written by economists at the ECB and the euro area's national central banks. The ECB's projections page says they come out four times a year, in March, June, September, and December.
Four 2027 monetary policy meetings fall in those months: 17-18 March, 9-10 June, 8-9 September, and 15-16 December. The ECB's meeting calendar does not mark them, so the link between those meetings and the projections rests on the month.
The September 2026 projections came out on 10 September 2026, the day the ECB lists as the date of that meeting's press conference. They put annual inflation at 3.0% in 2026 and 2.1% in 2028. They put economic growth at 0.9% in 2026 and 1.5% by 2028.
On 29 October 2026, Lagarde said in the press conference that December will be a projection exercise. The 16-17 December 2026 meeting is the next one with projections.
The February, April, July, and October 2027 meetings fall in months without a projections release.
How far apart are the ECB decisions?
Chart 1 counts the days from each decision day to the next, from 17 December 2026 to 3 February 2028.
Source: European Central Bank; YX Insights
Four gaps are 42 days, which is six weeks. Five are 49 days, which is seven weeks. All four six-week gaps fall between the February and July 2027 decisions. All the later gaps are seven weeks.
The two gaps that cross a year-end are both 49 days. The first decision of 2027 and the first of 2028 each follow the previous year's last decision by seven weeks.
How do ECB dates compare with the Fed's 2027 dates?
The Federal Reserve's rate-setting committee, the FOMC, also has eight scheduled meetings in 2027. Its calendar lists 26-27 January, 16-17 March, 27-28 April, 8-9 June, 27-28 July, 14-15 September, 26-27 October, and 7-8 December. The Fed's meetings run Tuesday to Wednesday. The Fed Chair said on 28 October 2026 that one 2027 meeting will focus only on strategy, with no rate vote anticipated. The Fed has not said which.
Chart 2 puts the two sets of decision days side by side.
Source: European Central Bank; Federal Reserve; YX Insights
The ECB decides the day after the Fed in four months: March, April, June, and October. The ECB's July and September decisions come six days before the Fed's. The ECB's December decision comes eight days after the Fed's. In January the Fed decides and the ECB does not, while in February the ECB decides and the Fed does not.
The Fed treats each of its dates as tentative until confirmed at the meeting before.
Both banks have four meetings in the March, June, September, and December quarter-end months. Both publish new projections in those months.
When does the ECB publish its accounts?
The ECB publishes accounts of its monetary policy meetings. They review financial, economic, and monetary developments and policy options, with a summary of the discussions and decisions.
The ECB says they are typically published four weeks after the meeting. The calendar does not list the 2027 publication dates, so this page gives none.
Our guide to the FOMC minutes covers the Fed's record of its meetings. Our page on how the Fed sets rates explains what a rate decision does.
The ECB's 2027 calendar has eight Wednesday-to-Thursday monetary policy meetings in Frankfurt, with a 14:45 CET press conference on each decision day.
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Common questions about ECB meeting dates in 2027
How many ECB meetings are there in 2027?
The ECB's Governing Council has eight monetary policy meetings in 2027: 3-4 February, 17-18 March, 28-29 April, 9-10 June, 21-22 July, 8-9 September, 27-28 October, and 15-16 December. The calendar also lists six non-monetary Governing Council meetings and two General Council meetings, which do not set euro area interest rates.
When is the first ECB meeting of 2027?
The first ECB monetary policy meeting of 2027 runs Wednesday 3 and Thursday 4 February in Frankfurt, with the decision and press conference on 4 February. That decision follows the 17 December 2026 decision by 49 days. No monetary policy meeting falls in January. Our FOMC meeting schedule page covers the Fed's January date.
What time is the ECB announcement?
The ECB gives the press conference time as 14:45 CET, Central European Time, on the second day of each monetary policy meeting. The ECB publishes a press release with the decision on the same day. The ECB's pages we opened give no UK or US clock time, so this answer gives none.
Does the ECB meet in August?
No. The ECB's calendar lists no Governing Council or General Council meeting in August or January 2027. Its 2027 monetary policy meetings fall in February, March, April, June, July, September, October, and December. The calendar lists a non-monetary meeting and a General Council meeting in November, but no rate decision.
Which ECB meetings have staff projections?
The ECB publishes staff projections four times a year, in March, June, September, and December. The 2027 meetings in those months are 17-18 March, 9-10 June, 8-9 September, and 15-16 December. The ECB's calendar does not mark them. The February, April, July, and October meetings fall in months without a release.
DISCLAIMER: This article is intended for educational purposes only. Any information or analysis in this note does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities. Nothing in this note is intended to be investment advice, nor should it be relied upon to make investment decisions. Any opinions, analyses, or probabilities expressed in this note are those of the author as of the note's date of publication and are subject to change without notice.
