Christine Lagarde expects completing her mission as president of the European Central Bank will take until the end of her term, she has told the Wall Street Journal, amid reports of an early resignation.
“When I look back at all these years, I think that we have accomplished a lot, that I have accomplished a lot,” she said in an interview, adding, “We need to consolidate and make sure that this is really solid and reliable. So my baseline is that it will take until the end of my term.”
Lagarde’s comments come after the Financial Times reported on Wednesday that the ECB president plans to leave her job early, ahead of next year’s French presidential election, to give outgoing French leader Emmanuel Macron a say in picking her successor.
Lagarde sent a private message to fellow policymakers later on Wednesday, reassuring them that she was still concentrating on her role of leading Europe’s most important financial institution and that they would hear it from her, rather than the media, if she wanted to step down, sources told Reuters.
Lagarde told the Journal that she views her mission as price and financial stability, as well as “protecting the euro, making sure that it is solid and strong and fit for the future of Europe”.
She also said the World Economic Forum was “one of the many options” she was considering once she left the central bank.