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The European Central Bank announced on Wednesday that President Christine Lagarde will step down from the job in February, eight months before her tenure was set to end, formalizing a move that had been rumored since the beginning of this year. The decision sets up a leadership contest at the bank as Europe faces major inflationary pressures, largely sparked by the war in Iran. The ECB is likely to hold interest rates steady today, though a rate hike is expected as early as December. Lagarde is widely rumored to leave the bank to lead the World Economic Forum — Reuters reported that she could be officially confirmed as early as next month — and has batted away suggestions that she could run for the French presidency. The bank itself, meanwhile, faces potential pressure from a continent-wide surge in far-right parties: European officials are widely reported to want to appoint her successor and fill other key vacancies before France’s presidential election in April next year, a vote the far-right is expected to win.
document fetched 2026-10-30 02:56 · canonical https://semafor.com/article/10/29/2026/european-central-bank-chief-christine-lagarde-to-step-down