European Central Bank Governing Council member and Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel said the ECB is well positioned to cope with surging energy prices and should assess new data before deciding whether to raise interest rates in September. On the 23rd, the ECB kept its policy rate, the deposit facility rate, at 2.25 percent as expected, leaving the door open to a further rate hike in September given upside inflation risks from a spike in energy prices due to the Middle East situation. In a statement, Nagel said the June rate hike already puts the ECB in a good position to monitor developments carefully, and noted that the Middle East situation is highly volatile and faces strong uncertainty. According to ECB President Christine Lagarde, some voices at the 23rd meeting questioned the appropriateness of a rate increase, but the decision to hold rates steady was ultimately unanimous. Nagel said the ECB should not commit in advance to any rate change and should analyse the large amount of data available before the next meeting on September 10th.