Lorenzo Bini Smaghi, who sits on the ECB's powerful Executive Board, told Reuters the council has not resolved on a December hike, while Vitor Constancio of Portugal delivered reassuring words on inflation expectations.
"Nothing has been decided," Bini Smaghi told Reuters. "I don't find it appropriate that statements or comments are made which, voluntarily or not, pre-empt future policy decisions that have not been made yet," he added.
Hawkish comments from several European central bankers have set off a swirl of speculation in financial markets that an ECB camp, led by a Germany and Luxembourg deeply worried by rapid credit growth, was pressing for a December rate rise.
ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet moved to quiet any impression of discord on Wednesday, saying when asked of a split on the council: "Listen to me, and not a number of voices because there is only one president."
Trichet's message is one of strong vigilance over inflationary risks and that the ECB stands ready to act any time. The president was due to give two speeches in London on Thursday. But like Bini Smaghi he has given no signal that preparations are being made for a December hike.
Debt futures markets, which had been pricing a near certainty of a December credit tightening, backed off that view a little after Bini Smaghi's remarks. The December bund contract lifted eight ticks to 119.42 and then retreated again.
The ECB next holds a monetary policy meeting on December 1 to review its benchmark 2 percent interest rate, held at a record low since June 2003 in face of sluggish growth.
A 45 percent surge in oil prices this year, inflation firmly above the ECB's 2 percent ceiling at 2.5 percent in October and building economic momentum have caused the ECB to prepare for the euro-zone's first credit tightening in five years.
In Lisbon, Governing Council member Constancio added to the cautious tone, however, on the timing for a rate rise.
"We are in a period when any policy decision has to be carefully considered. Our mandate says that we have to concentrate on medium-term inflation prospects" and those appear to remain well under control, Constancio told reporters. Despite surging oil costs pushing up headline inflation, he said that energy costs are not feeding broadly into the wage and price structure, a view confirmed in the ECB's monthly bulletin for November.
While a new ECB survey saw inflation at 2 percent in 2006, up from 1.8 percent that professional forecasters had expected when surveyed three months earlier, the report found the longer term outlook for inflation holding at 1.9 percent.
"It seems to me that analysts and the markets currently reflect forecasts and expectations of medium-term inflation that are still anchored and well behaved," Constancio said.
France inflation for October eased to 2 percent, providing some comfort that the energy price shock is not triggering an inflationary outburst. The ECB also said fresh data on unit labour costs for the second quarter, which eased to 1.1 percent from 1.2 percent annual rate at the start of the year, indicated a levelling off at moderate growth rates.
The political pressure on the ECB not to rush into a rate hike was unabated.
"If it is possible to keep a low level of inflation, it may not be necessary to increase rates next year," Belgian Finance Minister Didier Reynders told Reuters in Singapore, several days after euro zone finance ministers urged no hasty action.
The European Trade Union Confederation, meanwhile, said that ECB talk of a rate rise was damaging economic sentiment when there are no signs of second-round inflationary effects.
"With real wages sitting tight, the ECB should simply ride out the oil price hike. After five years of slowdown, Europe cannot afford another year of meagre growth," ETUC General Secretary John Monks said in a statement.