Christine Lagarde to Leave the ECB Presidency on 7 February 2027
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Christine Lagarde will step down as president of the European Central Bank on 7 February 2027. She told the Governing Council and European Council President António Costa on Thursday. Her eight-year term was due to run about nine months longer.
The ECB said the Governing Council thanked her warmly and gave her a long standing ovation. Neither the bank nor Lagarde gave a reason for leaving. The announcement came on the day the council was due to publish its latest interest rate decision. The deposit rate was projected to stay at 2.5%, and Lagarde was to face reporters afterwards.
Reactions and process
Costa praised her "dedication as President of the European Central Bank since November 2019." He said the process to appoint her successor starts today and will go ahead without delay. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen wrote: "from the pandemic to Russia's war of aggression, your steady hand has helped keep our economy stable and resilient." Greek finance minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis, who chairs the Eurogroup, spoke on behalf of eurozone ministers and said her leadership had strengthened confidence in the euro.
The European Council picks the ECB president by qualified majority. It acts on a recommendation from EU finance ministers and after consulting the European Parliament and the ECB's Governing Council.
Why now
Lagarde, a former French finance minister and head of the International Monetary Fund, took over at the ECB in November 2019. Talk of an early exit had built for months. In February, Euronews reported rumours that she wanted to leave before France's presidential election in April 2027, so that French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz could oversee the choice. Macron cannot run for a third term, and the far-right National Rally has polled strongly. Bank of France Governor François Villeroy de Galhau announced his own early exit in February.
Lagarde said in February that chairing the World Economic Forum was "one of the many options" for her future. In July she said she was "not a candidate for anything."
The race to succeed her
Two names lead. Pablo Hernández de Cos, a former Bank of Spain governor who has run the Bank for International Settlements since 2025, was put forward by Madrid in July in Spain's first bid for the presidency. Klaas Knot ran the Dutch central bank from 2011 to 2025. Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel has also been mentioned. Germany has never held the job.
The presidency is one piece of a bigger puzzle. Board member Isabel Schnabel leaves on 3 January 2027 to join the IMF, and chief economist Philip Lane's term ends on 31 May 2027. Half of the six-member Executive Board will change hands within five months, and the three posts are expected to be negotiated between capitals as a package.
Source: European Central Bank