ECB Starts Search for New Chief as Lagarde Exits in February After 7 Years
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Oct 31
ECB Starts Search for New Chief as Lagarde Exits in February After 7 Years
3 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Oct 31
Summary
February is the handover date Christine Lagarde set this week, ending more than seven years leading the European Central Bank as the succession process already gets underway.
Lagarde’s replacement will inherit a job shaped by repeated shocks — from the Covid-19 pandemic to the 2022 Ukraine war, Trump’s global tariffs last year and a new Middle East-driven energy shock.
The ECB’s core task remains keeping inflation near 2%, but that mandate is unusually complex because it must deliver price stability across 21 euro-area countries rather than one national economy.
Economists say the next president will need both technical expertise and political skill as central banks confront further crises alongside longer-term disruptions from climate change and artificial intelligence.