Christine Lagarde will leave the presidency of the European Central Bank on 7 February 2027, nearly nine months before her term was scheduled to expire on 31 October 2027. Appointed in November 2019, she led the ECB through the euro area’s record inflation crisis, which peaked at 10.6% in October 2022, followed by a rise to 3.8% in September 2026. Her departure comes before the first round of the French presidential election on 18 April 2027 and could influence the selection of her successor, with Klaas Knot and Pablo Hernández de Cos among the leading candidates. Lagarde championed the digital euro, whose pilot phase is due to begin in the second half of 2027, but had also opposed Bitcoin and stablecoins.
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