ECB President Christine Lagarde will step down on 7 February 2027
The European Central Bank said Christine Lagarde told its Governing Council she will step down as president on 7 February 2027. Her successor will be appointed by the European Council.
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European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde has told the bank's Governing Council and European Council President António Costa that she will step down on 7 February 2027, the ECB said on Thursday, 29 October. Her successor will be appointed by the European Council under the nomination process in Article 283 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, the bank said.
Lagarde's eight-year term had been due to end in October 2027, so the departure comes about nine months early, The Guardian reported. She announced it at the end of the press conference after the ECB kept its deposit rate at 2.5% on the same day. FiscalHour covered that rate decision on Friday.
Lagarde said the neutrality rules that apply to ECB officials limited what she could say. "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," she said, according to The Guardian. She added that "a process has already started to identify my successor" and that there were "plenty of excellent candidates".
The Guardian listed former Dutch central bank president Klaas Knot, Spanish banker Pablo Hernández de Cos, Bundesbank president Joachim Nagel and European Investment Bank president Nadia Calviño as possible candidates. That list is the newspaper's reporting, not an official shortlist; the ECB has not named any candidates. Lagarde joined the ECB in late 2019 after serving as managing director of the International Monetary Fund.
The change of president does not by itself change ECB interest rates, which are set by the Governing Council as a whole. This article is not investment advice.
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