"In my opinion, the European Central Bank (ECB) must maintain the basic principles of gradualism and flexibility as the problem it faces is different than that faced by the Fed in the US," ECB Governing Council member Yannis Stournaras said on Monday. 

"Inflation in Europe today comes from the side of supply and not demand," Stournaras added, as reported by Reuters. "To a great extent, it is due to imported natural gas from Russia, which has been instrumentalised."

Market reaction

The EUR/USD pair showed no immediate reaction to these remarks and was last seen trading virtually unchanged on the day slightly below 0.9700.