{"id":469677,"date":"2026-10-29T18:33:05","date_gmt":"2026-10-29T17:33:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2026\/10\/29\/lagarde-mi-dimetto-dalla-bce-perche-voglio-parlare-e-prendere-una-parte\/"},"modified":"2026-10-29T18:56:00","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T17:56:00","slug":"lagarde-i-am-stepping-down-from-the-ecb-because-i-want-to-speak-out-and-choose-a-side","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2026\/10\/29\/lagarde-i-am-stepping-down-from-the-ecb-because-i-want-to-speak-out-and-choose-a-side\/","title":{"rendered":"Lagarde: \u201cI am stepping down from the ECB because I want to speak out and choose a side\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels \u2013 Some see her at the helm of the World Economic Forum<\/b><\/a> as early as next month. Others believe that her decision to step down as head of the European Central Bank in February rather than October is intended to give the current French President, Emmanuel Macron, the opportunity to influence the choice of successor before the presidential elections<\/a>, thereby averting the risk that the anti-European Marine Le Pen might take the post. Christine Lagarde herself offers no details and expresses no preference amongst the scenarios put forward, but, after stating that her candidacy for the \u00c9lys\u00e9e “would not be a good idea at all,” today (29 October), she makes it clear: the decision \u201cstems from my desire to have freedom of speech, freedom of expression and the opportunity to speak out on issues that go beyond monetary policy.<\/strong>\u201d <\/p>\n

At the press conference following the Governing Council meeting, which decided to leave interest rates unchanged, Lagarde answered the more political questions concerning her decision and the future that lies ahead for her and the ECB. First of all, she reiterated the rules of engagement. \u201cAs President of the European Central Bank<\/strong> \u2013 and the same applies to my colleagues on the Executive Board and the Governing Council \u2013 we are subject to specific constraints: we have a duty to remain neutral<\/strong>. Our comments on the current situation focus exclusively on monetary policy. We are guided by a single mandate, from which we cannot deviate: this is the price we pay for our independence,\u201d she explains. <\/p>\n

A position she can no longer uphold. \u201cToday, looking at various parts of the world, not just in Europe, I believe that my voice and my actions can help to uphold principles that are very close to my heart\u201d and \u201cone of these principles is that I do not believe I can remain neutral. At this moment, I cannot feel comfortable with such neutrality,<\/strong>\u201d she admits. Claiming to have \u201cthe truth at heart,\u201d the outgoing president points out that she often sees \u201cthe truth compromised or contradicted by distorted representations.\u201d Therefore, \u201cfrom the position I have held over the last twenty years or more, dealing with economic and financial issues at an international level, first as Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund and then as President of the ECB, there are things I can say. Whether or not they are listened to is another matter. But I feel I must express them, something I cannot do in my current role,\u201d she observes. <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Lagarde insists she is \u201cfully in charge and focused\u201d and will continue to \u201cwork wholeheartedly and without excuses\u201d until 7 February. \u201cAs for operational continuity, a process to identify my successor has already been set in motion\u201d and \u201cthere are many excellent candidates \u2013 indeed, far better than me,\u201d she comments. So, \u201cdo not worry about the continuity of operations\u201d and \u201cdo not fear that the decision-making process might remain in a sort of limbo. Absolutely not. The institution is strong and solid as a rock, and will remain so. <\/strong><\/p>\n

As for the succession, among the names being mentioned<\/b><\/a> <\/b>are the Spaniard Pablo Hern\u00e1ndez de Cos, former Governor of the Bank of Spain and former member of the ECB\u2019s Governing Council, who now heads the Bank for International Settlements; the Dutchman Klaas Knot, former governor of the Dutch Central Bank; and the president of the German Bundesbank, Joachim Nagel. But it will be the leaders of the eurozone countries who will have to focus on the name and reach an agreement. In any case, however, \u201cthe ECB takes monetary policy decisions on the basis of a consensus,\u201d Andrzej Szczepaniak, an economist at Nomura, told Reuters. Therefore, \u201cit is unlikely that whoever replaces Lagarde will alter or radically change the way the ECB operates, particularly if her successor were to be one of the figures mentioned in the media,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The president insists she is \u201cfully in charge and focused\u201d and will continue \u201cto work wholeheartedly and without excuses\u201d until 7 February. The process to find her successor is now underway<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7874,"featured_media":469654,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25705,25712,25681],"tags":[26112,28647,26908,36425,36426],"class_list":["post-469677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-general-news","category-politics","tag-bce-en","tag-freedom-of-expression-en","tag-lagarde-en-2","tag-liberta-parola","tag-questioni-non-monetarie"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469677","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7874"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=469677"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469677\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":469678,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469677\/revisions\/469678"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/469654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=469677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=469677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=469677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}