Isabel Schnabel, a member of the ECB's executive committee, said in a speech on Saturday that there was "growing evidence" that inflation expectations were gradually re-aligning the ECB's definition of price stability.
If monetary policy is to be sustainable, it needs to remain expansionary so as not to hinder the initial recovery.
Patience may cause inflation to end up slightly higher than our target for some time.
This is a necessary and proportionate requirement to avoid low inflation.
Many of the factors contributing to the rise in inflation this year are likely to subside in 2022.