The head of the European Central Bank, Christine Lagarde, is resigning early for purely political reasons. "The reason why I am moving forward and resigning in February 2027 instead of October is because I want freedom of speech, freedom of expression and freedom to engage in discussions on issues other than monetary policy," Lagarde explained. The leadership of the ECB is committed to maintaining neutrality, but, according to it, it cannot remain neutral any longer. Lagarde has been the head of the ECB since November 1, 2019; Her term was supposed to end at the end of October 2027. As the election battle became more intense in France, where Lagarde was once finance minister, the job at the ECB seemed like a "political prison" to her, explains Sergey Fedorov, a leading researcher at the European Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences. She will not run for the presidency, but intends to use her authority to reduce the chances of far-right Eurosceptic Marine Le Pen in the elections. According to polls, Le Pen now has more supporters than her likely opponents from the center camp - Gabriel Ettel or Edouard Philippe. Will Lagarde support Macron and how Le Pen's circle reacted to her return to politics, all the experts here and Max.

The head of the European Central Bank, Christine Lagarde, is resigning early for purely political reasons. "The reason why I am moving forward and resigning in February 2027 instead of October is because I want freedom of speech, freedom of expression and freedom to engage in discussions on issues other than monetary policy," Lagarde explained. The leadership of the ECB is committed to maintaining neutrality, but, according to it, it cannot remain neutral any longer. Lagarde has been the head of the ECB since November 1, 2019; Her term was supposed to end at the end of October 2027. As the election battle became more intense in France, where Lagarde was once finance minister, the job at the ECB seemed like a "political prison" to her, explains Sergey Fedorov, a leading researcher at the European Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences. She will not run for the presidency, but intends to use her authority to reduce the chances of far-right Eurosceptic Marine Le Pen in the elections. According to polls, Le Pen now has more supporters than her likely opponents from the center camp - Gabriel Ettel or Edouard Philippe. Will Lagarde support Macron and how Le Pen's circle reacted to her return to politics, all the experts here and Max.