Brussels, 08/12/2005 (Agence Europe) - The rise in interest rates decided on 1 December by the European Central Bank “cannot be seen as a tightening of monetary policy but rather as a re-balancing”, said Yves Mersch, Governor of the Luxembourg central bank in an interview with The Financial Times of 8 December (EUROPE 9080). While Jean-Claude Trichet explained to euro zone finance ministers on Monday evening that this 25 base point rise was not the beginning of a series of successive rate increases (EUROPE 9083), Yves Mersch recalled that the European Central Bank is free to act. “We do not prejudge anything. We are free and ready to act whenever we feel it is necessary”, ,he told the British daily. He went on to say that, within the ECB Governing Council, there is a “certain neutrality” concerning the future of interest rates. He added: “We are still unanimous in judging that our policy stance is very accommodative and conducive to the growth rate that we expect in the eurozone”. The ECB's wish for predictability could lead it to precede its decisions on rates by intelligible signs (such as the speech by Mr Trichet the week before the rise). “Nothing can be ruled out”, however, with this ECB communication strategy, Mr Mersch stressed, saying: “But if we consider that it has to be done, a surprise move is never ruled out”.