Reuters reports that  Luis de Guindos, the ECB vice president, told that the European Central Bank can start to phase out emergency stimulus measures when the pace of coronavirus vaccinations reaches a critical level and the economy picks up speed.

"If by speeding up the vaccination campaign, we manage to have vaccinated 70% of Europe's adult population by the summer and the economy starts to pick up speed, we may also start to think about phasing out the emergency mode on the monetary policy side," de Guindos told.

"The normalisation of monetary policy should go hand in hand with the normalisation of the economy," he said.

Less than 30% of the bloc's population have received their first COVID-19 jabs so far. Experts say that getting 70% of people fully vaccinated is unlikely before the end of July, with the end of August seen as a more realistic deadline.

But de Guindos also cautioned against keeping central bank stimulus lingering too long, warning the side effects could be as damaging as removing support too early.