The legendary 70-year-old president of the European Central Bank (previously headed the IMF for more than 8 years), Christine Lagarde, will leave her position at the ECB 9 months before the end of her contract - on February 7, 2027. This was officially announced by the regulator. Lagarde herself, in public statements, linked her departure with the inability to express her opinion on global issues. Lagarde is remembered at the ECB for her decision at the beginning of the corona epidemic to carry out a large-scale issuance of euros through an emergency bond purchase program (PEPP). Although this allowed Europeans to go through relatively painless closures in the social sphere and partially supported the economy, it planted a huge inflationary time bomb under the EU. And later, faced with an inflationary shock following the outbreak of the war in Ukraine and rising energy prices, Lagarde prompted the ECB to raise interest rates, which was another blow to the already suffering European economy. Christine Lagarde leaves the ECB at a difficult economic time for the EU: New energy shock and inflation: A new round of geopolitical tensions in the Middle East (US-Iran war), due to which European gas prices have updated records since 2022, and current inflation is almost double the European Central Bank's target level of 2% (3.8%). Political crisis in France: There is a sharp rise in French government bond yields due to problems with public finances in Paris and the risks of Eurosceptics led by Marine Le Pen coming to power in the 2027 elections. Stagnation of European Union locomotives: The largest economies (mainly Germany) show weak economic growth, and the car giant Volkswagen records losses of billions of dollars due to the pressure of Chinese competition. The ECB is currently considering former Dutch central bank chief Claes Noth and former Bank of Spain chief Pablo Hernandez de Coza as potential successors to Lagarde. But no formal offers have been made yet.

The legendary 70-year-old president of the European Central Bank (previously headed the IMF for more than 8 years), Christine Lagarde, will leave her position at the ECB 9 months before the end of her contract - on February 7, 2027. This was officially announced by the regulator. Lagarde herself, in public statements, linked her departure with the inability to express her opinion on global issues. Lagarde is remembered at the ECB for her decision at the beginning of the corona epidemic to carry out a large-scale issuance of euros through an emergency bond purchase program (PEPP). Although this allowed Europeans to go through relatively painless closures in the social sphere and partially supported the economy, it planted a huge inflationary time bomb under the EU. And later, faced with an inflationary shock following the outbreak of the war in Ukraine and rising energy prices, Lagarde prompted the ECB to raise interest rates, which was another blow to the already suffering European economy. Christine Lagarde leaves the ECB at a difficult economic time for the EU: New energy shock and inflation: A new round of geopolitical tensions in the Middle East (US-Iran war), due to which European gas prices have updated records since 2022, and current inflation is almost double the European Central Bank's target level of 2% (3.8%). Political crisis in France: There is a sharp rise in French government bond yields due to problems with public finances in Paris and the risks of Eurosceptics led by Marine Le Pen coming to power in the 2027 elections. Stagnation of European Union locomotives: The largest economies (mainly Germany) show weak economic growth, and the car giant Volkswagen records losses of billions of dollars due to the pressure of Chinese competition. The ECB is currently considering former Dutch central bank chief Claes Noth and former Bank of Spain chief Pablo Hernandez de Coza as potential successors to Lagarde. But no formal offers have been made yet.