Christine Lagarde will leave the ECB on 7 February, nine months early
The European Central Bank president told the Governing Council and European Council President António Costa on Thursday that she will step down on 7 February 2027. Her eight-year term was due to run until 31 October 2027. EU leaders pick her successor, and Costa says the process starts today.
Christine Lagarde will step down as President of the European Central Bank on 7 February 2027. She told the ECB’s Governing Council and European Council President António Costa on Thursday, and the bank confirmed the date in a three-paragraph press release that closes with the governors giving her a long standing ovation.
It is an early exit. Her eight-year term began on 1 November 2019 and was due to end on 31 October 2027.
Why now
The ECB gave no reason, and Lagarde’s own message on social media only thanked the people who had backed her over seven years. The reading among analysts is political. Leaving in February hands the choice of successor to the current crop of EU leaders, with Emmanuel Macron still in the Élysée, ahead of France’s presidential election in April and May.
That matters well beyond Paris. Whoever holds the job chairs the meetings that set interest rates for all 21 euro countries, Portugal included.
Who decides, and who is being talked about
The appointment belongs to the European Council, by qualified majority on a recommendation from the Council of the EU, after consulting the European Parliament and the ECB’s Governing Council, under Article 283 of the EU Treaty. Costa said the process would start today and move “without delay”.
Two names come up most: Klaas Knot, the former head of the Dutch central bank, and Pablo Hernández de Cos, who runs the Bank for International Settlements. Other seats are moving too. Chief economist Philip Lane’s term ends in May, and leaders are expected to settle the posts as a package, ideally before their 17-18 December summit.
Does this change rates?
Not in the short run. The ECB decides as a committee, and Lagarde chairs every meeting until February. If you have a variable-rate mortgage, the next decisions matter far more than the name on the door, and our running markets tracker follows them week by week.
The timing has a neat echo. The UN is also hunting for someone to take over the seat António Guterres leaves at the end of the year, so two of the heaviest jobs in global economics and diplomacy fall vacant within weeks of each other.
By Beatriz Mota
Image: Philippe Buissin / European Parliament (© European Union 2025)
