This is a great point brought up by @fwred (one of the best in the business for anything ECB-related by the way) ahead of the policy decision later today. That being that when the ECB does hold a formal vote on decisions, there will be five members that will not have voting rights amid its rotation policy. For today, that will be as per below:
Of note, Nagel (Bundesbank), Muller (Eesti), Wunsch (Belge), and Makhlouf (Ireland) will not observe voting rights this time around. And they are all rather hawkish members of the governing council.
I mean, could you imagine if it really comes down to a vote amid a mix of opinions about a rate hike and to pause, and these people are not going to be involved? What happens if the vote turns out to be for no change to interest rates? How will that look on the optics of the decision?
It is definitely some food for thought ahead of the meeting later today.
