European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde plans to leave Feb. 7, 2027, 10 weeks before France’s presidential vote and nearly nine months before her term was scheduled to end, opening an early succession process.
The ECB said Oct. 29 that Lagarde had informed its Governing Council and European Council President António Costa of her decision. Her term began Nov. 1, 2019, and was scheduled to end Oct. 31, 2027, according to ECB records. The Feb. 7 departure date comes eight months and 24 days before that scheduled end.
The ECB’s announcement gave the departure date but did not explain why Lagarde planned to leave before her term ended. At a news conference on Oct. 29, Lagarde linked her decision to the expectations of neutrality attached to the office. “I don’t think that I can be comfortable in that neutrality at the present time,” she said. She said the position left her wanting more room to address public matters outside the ECB’s monetary policy work.
In an exclusive interview published July 9, Lagarde told Euronews, “I’m not a candidate for anything.” The comment came more than three months before her departure plans were announced.
France’s Interior Ministry lists April 18, 2027, for the presidential election’s first round, followed by a second round on May 2. Lagarde’s planned departure falls 70 days before the first vote. The first round would come between her departure and the end of her scheduled term.
Costa said Oct. 29 that planning for Lagarde’s successor would begin that day. The ECB says the European Council will appoint a successor under Article 283 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. Neither the central bank’s announcement nor Costa’s statement set a date for completing the appointment or named a candidate.
