{"id":484607,"date":"2026-02-19T05:36:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T05:36:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/484607\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T05:36:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T05:36:11","slug":"european-central-bank-president-lagarde-reportedly-plans-to-quit-before-macrons-term-ends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/484607\/","title":{"rendered":"European Central Bank President Lagarde reportedly plans to quit before Macron\u2019s term ends"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde in Florence, Italy, in October, 2025.Remo Casilli\/Reuters<\/p>\n

European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde plans to leave her job early, ahead of next year\u2019s French presidential election, to give outgoing French leader Emmanuel Macron a say in picking her successor, the Financial Times said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Lagarde\u2019s term leading Europe\u2019s most important financial institution is due to end in October 2027, but a victory by the far-right party National Rally in the spring 2027 French vote could complicate selection of the next ECB chief. <\/p>\n

RN president Jordan Bardella on Tuesday accused Macron of attempting to stage a \u201cdemocratic power grab\u201d that would let him maintain influence even after leaving office.<\/p>\n

France is the second-biggest European Union economy and no ECB president has been picked without a sign-off from Paris.<\/p>\n

Concerns about central bank independence have risen with U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s campaign against Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, demanding sharp interest rate cuts.<\/p>\n

Citing a person familiar with the matter, the FT reported Lagarde had not decided the exact timing of her departure but was keen that Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz be the key European leaders choosing who succeeds her. Macron cannot run for a third presidential term.<\/p>\n

A German government spokesperson said Berlin would \u201calways propose a suitable candidate\u201d to head the ECB, who would support Germany\u2019s \u201cideas of stability\u201d \u2013 a reference to its preference for strict inflation targeting and sound public finances.<\/p>\n

Business leaders endorse Carney\u2019s Davos warnings, but fret about blowback<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cPresident Lagarde is totally focused on her mission and has not taken any decision regarding the end of her term,\u201d an ECB spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

That is a departure from earlier guidance. Last year, when the FT suggested she may leave early, the ECB said Lagarde was \u201cdetermined to complete her term.\u201d<\/p>\n

Market reaction to Lagarde\u2019s possible departure was muted on Wednesday as potential successors are not expected to transform policy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ECB takes monetary policy decisions by building consensus, and whoever replaces Lagarde is unlikely to radically shift or change the way the ECB works, in particular should her replacement be one of those being touted in the media,\u201d Nomura economist Andrzej Szczepaniak said.<\/p>\n

Lagarde\u2019s early departure could strengthen the case for EU leaders to make ECB Executive Board appointments as a package when the terms of chief economist Philip Lane and market operations chief Isabel Schnabel expire next year. <\/p>\n

ECB presidential appointments are subject to political horse-trading, so filling the three jobs together might make sense, especially as the bloc\u2019s biggest economies \u2013 France, Italy and Germany \u2013 have de facto permanent seats on the board.<\/p>\n

Candidates often mentioned for the top job include former Dutch central bank chief Klaas Knot, Bank for International Settlements General Manager Pablo Hernandez de Cos and German Bundesbank president Joachim Nagel.<\/p>\n

Schnabel has expressed interest in the role but EU law may prevent her candidacy: board members serve non-renewable terms.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll the likely candidates are mainstream central bankers and, even if the eventual successor is not one of the current supposed front-runners, he or she would be sure to be from a similar background,\u201d Andrew Kenningham at Capital Economics said.<\/p>\n

European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde plans to leave her job early, ahead of next year’s French presidential election, to give outgoing French leader Emmanuel Macron an input into picking her successor, the Financial Times said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Reuters<\/p>\n

The FT report comes a week after Bank of France Governor Francois Villeroy de Galhau said he would step down early, which will allow Macron to name his replacement.<\/p>\n

The RN said that move was aimed at putting in place allies against the eurosceptic party, in case there was a change of power in France.<\/p>\n

Villeroy says his choice to step down is a personal one. <\/p>\n

Polls show either RN leader Marine Le Pen or her prot\u00e9g\u00e9 Bardella could succeed Macron, although the nationalist, anti-immigrant party has made little headway with France\u2019s economic establishment, which frets over its shifting positions.<\/p>\n

While leaders from the 21 eurozone countries could in theory pick a candidate France disagrees with to head the ECB, practice suggests a candidate needs German and French support to clinch the role. <\/p>\n

Some analysts questioned whether attempting to bypass the far right \u2013 or far left \u2013 could have unintended effects. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe road to hell is paved with good intentions and [Lagarde] has very honourable intentions,\u201d Pictet Wealth Management\u2019s head of macroeconomic research Frederik Ducrozet said. \u201cBut this would send the signal that European elites are trying to control the institution and it could prove counterproductive for everything else that the EU is trying to achieve.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Britain, outside the European Union, the populist Reform U.K. party, which is leading in opinion polls, said on Wednesday it would make changes to the way the Bank of England operates, but stressed it would respect its independence. <\/p>\n

Lagarde would leave the ECB at a relatively tranquil time.<\/p>\n

Inflation is at target, interest rates are in a neutral setting, and euro zone economic growth is at potential \u2013 a rare combination that some have called a central banker\u2019s nirvana.<\/p>\n

Markets currently expect the ECB to keep rates on hold all year, although exceptional uncertainty in the global environment could quickly change the outlook.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde in Florence, Italy, in October, 2025.Remo Casilli\/Reuters…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":484608,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,45,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-484607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=484607"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484607\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/484608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=484607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=484607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=484607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}