NEW YORK, Feb 19 (Reuters) - The European Central Bank has not committed yet to any decision for its next meeting on March 10, but may decide to act if it determines that a recovery in inflation is getting pushed back further into the future, ECB Vice President Vitor Constancio said on Friday.

“The main thing for us discussing our decisions is the prospect for inflation going forward. We don’t expect to reach our goal in a short time, but to go in that direction,” Constancio said at a Reuters Newsmaker event.

“If the conclusion of the Governing Council is that that path is at stake and that the delay in normalizing may get bigger...it may decide to act,” he said.

The ECB is trying to push inflation, now running around zero, back towards 2 percent. However, low energy prices, lackluster growth and weak lending growth are expected to keep inflation well below target for years to come. (Reporting by Jonathan Spicer and Tomasz Janowski; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)