ECB President Lagarde to Resign Early Next February

European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde will resign next year.

European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde speaks. AP-Yonhap News

The ECB said in a statement on the 29th (local time) that “President Lagarde informed European Council President António Costa, who also serves as the permanent chair of EU leaders’ meetings, that she would resign on February 7 next year.” Her successor will be appointed by the European Council in accordance with the procedures set out in the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. Costa said the selection process for the next president would begin that day and move forward immediately.

Lagarde, who previously served as France’s finance minister and managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), took office as ECB president in November 2019. Her eight-year term ends in late October next year. Rumors have circulated that Lagarde would resign and move to become chair of the World Economic Forum (WEF), or return to French politics next April.

With speculation about Lagarde’s resignation circulating for more than a year, the candidates to succeed her have narrowed to former Dutch central bank governor Klaas Knot and former Bank of Spain governor Pablo Hernández de Cos.

Top European political posts, including the ECB presidency, are filled through a qualified majority voting system after EU member states make nominations. A candidate is approved if supported by at least 15 member states representing more than 65% of the EU’s total population. Agreement between the leaders of Germany and France, the EU’s two leading powers, is decisive.

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