Christine Lagarde to Step Down as ECB President on February 7, 2027
Lagarde will leave nearly nine months before her term ends, opening the race to lead the central bank for the euro zone's 21 countries at a difficult moment for inflation and bond markets.
Christine Lagarde will step down as president of the European Central Bank on February 7, 2027, the bank said Thursday. Her term was due to run until the end of October 2027.
“European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde today informed the Governing Council and the President of the European Council António Costa that she will step down from her position on 7 February 2027,” the ECB said in a statement.
Lagarde took office in November 2019, succeeding Mario Draghi. She was the bank’s fourth president and its second from France.
She led the bank through the pandemic, an energy crisis and a sharp inflation surge. The bank lifted borrowing costs in June and September of this year, and markets expect policy to be tightened further as an oil-price shock tied to the war with Iran pushes prices higher.
In a video message, Lagarde said: “I leave this institution with a sense of good work done, and an ECB that is fit for the future.”
European Council President António Costa said the process to pick a successor would start Thursday and proceed without delay. He thanked Lagarde for her leadership, saying Europe “has been well served by her leadership in uncertain times and her unwavering commitment to the European project.”
The race to replace her
The former central bank governors of the Netherlands and Spain, Klaas Knot and Pablo Hernández de Cos, are seen as frontrunners. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg in October put de Cos, who now heads the Bank for International Settlements, as the favorite.
The timing matters in France. Lagarde’s successor will be chosen by current European leaders well before France’s presidential election next spring, when polls put Marine Le Pen in front.
That timing has drawn scrutiny. The schedule lets President Emmanuel Macron help choose her replacement before his own term ends. France’s central bank chief also resigned early, and Macron appointed his chief of staff, Emmanuel Moulin, to that post.
Speculation about an early departure had built for months. Lagarde repeatedly declined to commit to finishing her eight-year term, and reports have linked her to the World Economic Forum, which runs the annual Davos gathering. She has also said she may like a role in campaigning for next spring’s French presidential election, while ruling out running for the top job herself.
Later Thursday, the ECB held its deposit rate at 2.50%, as markets had expected.
Governments have two more top ECB posts to fill soon. Board member Isabel Schnabel is cutting her term short by a year to join the International Monetary Fund in early 2027, and chief economist Philip Lane’s mandate ends in May.
