FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde will resign nine months before the end of her term, a move that opens the way for European leaders to choose a successor ahead of France’s presidential election next year.
Lagarde, 70, will leave Feb. 7, the ECB said Thursday. Her eight-year term was to end Oct. 31, 2027.
The resignation opens the way for complex political horse trading over her successor and replacements for two other top officials who are leaving next year. The ECB president leads the bank’s governing council, which sets interest rates for the 21 countries that use the euro currency, affecting borrowing costs for everything from house purchases to new factories and serving as the European Union’s chief crisis fighter in times of economic and financial turbulence.
The announcement was expected following speculation that Lagarde would leave early to enable EU leaders to choose a successor while pro-EU French President Emmanuel Macron is still in office. That would guard against the possibility that right-wing presidential candidate Marine Le Pen might win the election and influence the choice.
European Council President Antonio Costa said that the selection process “will be initiated today and will proceed without delay.”
The term of another top ECB official — chief economist Philip Lane — is to end May 31, while another member of the ECB’s executive board, Isabel Schnabel, is resigning Jan. 3 to move to the International Monetary Fund. European leaders are expected to work out a package deal to apportion the three vacancies among member countries in a complex round of political bargaining.
EU leaders would likely seek to reach agreement on all three posts before a summit meeting on Dec. 17-18, said Holger Schmieding, chief economist at Berenberg bank.
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