<p><span>On the occasion of the meeting of the ECB Governing Council on 16 December 2021, a high-level working group headed by former prime ministers and candidates for chancellor Peer Steinbrück and Edmund Stoiber is calling on the European Cen-tral Bank to do more to reduce the increasing inflation rate. Stoiber and Steinbrück: "The ECB is neglecting its fundamental task of maintaining price stability by not ad-justing its ultra-loose monetary policy despite rising inflation rates. Contrary to the ECB's assumption that the trend is temporary, there is a high risk that inflation ex-pectations will become entrenched, thus driving inflation further." The resignation of the leading voice for stability in the ECB Governing Council, Bundesbank President Weidmann, should serve as a warning, they said. "We expect the ECB Governing Council to send a clear signal for a turnaround in monetary policy at its meeting and as a first step to substantially reduce bond purchases." Stoiber and Steinbrück call on the German Bundestag to critically monitor the ECB's activities. It is open to question, they said, whether the ECB is still acting within the scope of its monetary-policy authority or is already actively conducting economic and fiscal policy. However, assuming such a guiding function would not be in line with its mandate and would not be democratically legitimized.</span></p>