ECB’s Rehn: Energy Price Shock Has Not Yet Passed Through to Wages

Rehn's point matters because the absence of second-round effects is the key condition for treating an energy shock as a level effect rather than a persistent inflation problem, and it is precisely the evidence the Governing Council would need to look through energy-driven headline moves. The remark suggests the wage channel — the transmission route that would force a policy response — has not yet activated, though the phrasing leaves open whether that reflects genuine containment or simply a lag. Whether wage data confirm that pass-through stays absent is the open question for the rate path.