Possible candidate to run World Economic Forum departs ECB nine months early, saying she wants to speak her mind about world affairs
Christine Lagarde, the eurozone’s top central banker, has said she is stepping down nine months early to speak her mind about world affairs and confront the “misrepresentation of the truth”.
Ending months of speculation about her future at the European Central Bank, Lagarde said she would quit her role as president in March rather than October next year because the rules of neutrality that governed her job prevented her from influencing debate about financial and economics affairs.
She spoke at the end of a press conference to explain the ECB’s decision to hold interest rates – maintaining its key deposit rate at 2.5% – despite inflation climbing to 3.8% last month, its highest since September 2023.
Lagarde said: “I want to have the freedom of speech, the freedom of expression and the freedom to engage on matters that are not monetary policy matters.”
The former managing director of the International Monetary Fund has been tipped as a candidate to take over the running of the World Economic Forum, which holds its annual meeting in Davos each January. The WEF founder, Klaus Schwab, stepped down last year after being accused of financial and ethical misconduct, which he denies.
Lagarde’s early departure fires the starting gun on the race to replace her as ECB chief, at a time when the eurozone is struggling with weak growth and above-target inflation. Potential candidates include the former Dutch central bank president Klaas Knot, the Spanish banker Pablo Hernández de Cos, the German central bank president, Joachim Nagel, and Nadia Calviño, the president of the European Investment Bank.
The European Council made up of EU heads of state appoints the head of the ECB, which sets monetary policy across the eurozone.
There has been speculation that Lagarde, a former finance minister of France, has been encouraged to quit early by the French president, Emmanuel Macron, so her successor can be appointed before the possibility of a far-right or far-left presidential candidate being elected to the Élysée Palace. Lagarde will also be able to participate in next April’s elections.
She noted that ECB officials were bound by strict rules on not appearing partisan. “We have an obligation of neutrality; we comment on the situation with the focus on monetary policy,” Lagarde said, adding that the mandate was “the price we pay for being independent”.
Lagarde said she no longer felt comfortable staying silent on broader global issues. “I’m interested in the truth, and I see the truth being very often damaged, contradicted by misrepresentation,” she said, without elaborating.
Drawing on more than two decades in international economic and financial roles, she said she had more to contribute. “There are things that I can say – whether people will listen or not is another story. But I feel that I should say those things and I cannot do so in my current position.”
To reassure markets and staff that her early departure would not disrupt the central bank’s operations, she added: “A process has already started to identify my successor.” She said there were “plenty of excellent candidates.”
Macron said on Thursday that the succession at the ECB must be prepared in “an orderly and balanced way” with European partners, and also expressed his deep gratitude to Lagarde for her action during her tenure.
Holger Schmieding, the chief economist at Berenberg bank, said: “The European Union is trying to guard itself at least somewhat against the risk that rightwing Marine Le Pen may win the French presidential election in April/May 2027.
“Lagarde’s successor will still be appointed while the staunchly pro-European centrist Emmanuel Macron still resides in the Élysée Palace. He is a long-term political adversary of Le Pen.”
Lagarde joined the ECB in late 2019, shortly before the start of the Covid pandemic. During her tenure the central bank has also faced the economic consequences of the Russia-Ukraine war, Donald Trump’s trade war and his war in the Middle East.
Lagarde was wearing two plasters on her face in her video message, which she said was because of “a small surgery earlier in the week”. She added: “Follow doctors’ orders and get your skin checked regularly.”
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Source: www.theguardian.com
