ECB appointee against short-term rate changes

``Growth forecasts have been reduced, but they're still respectable,'' Gonzalez-Paramo told the parliament's economic and monetary committee in Brussels. ``Monetary policy can't react in the sort term to changes in a few indicators.''

He will join Papademos, President Jean-Claude Trichet as one of 18 rate setters in May. Trichet said Saturday borrowing costs are not ``fixed,'' suggesting he still sees scope to consider a rate cut. The central bank last lowered borrowing costs in June.

Still, Papademos said the ECB expects a ``gradual'' recovery across the euro region to accelerate next year even as reports show business and consumer confidence across the euro region is stagnating. The risks to the recovery are ``balanced'' and the ECB hasn't changed its assessment of growth prospects in recent months, he said in a speech in Dublin on Monday.