European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde is heading for the exit early and will depart on February 7, 2027. This is nearly nine months before her term expires, thus freeing her to become a candidate to take over the elite World Economic Forum (WEF).
The septuagenarian former IMF leader and French Minister of Economy, Finance and Industry took to social media to make the announcement as she readies for the next effortless glide to another top bureaucratic posting.
The French globalist lawyer turned career bureaucrat is now widely tipped to stand as a candidate to run the elite WEF which organises the annual summit of politicians and business leaders in Davos, Switzerland.
Erstwhile leader and founder Klaus Schwab stepped down last year after being accused of financial and ethical misconduct, all of which he airily dismissed as “a misunderstanding.”
A German-born economist, Schwab kicked off the WEF in 1971 with $6,000 in startup funds.
Now a $390 million per year mega-business, its annual forum draws world leaders, top-flight businessmen, and alleged thought leaders to descend — often by private jet, ironically, given the frequent focus on climate change — on the Swiss ski resort town of Davos where they plan responses to global issues behind closed doors.
For her part, Lagarde took the helm at the ECB in November 2019, having previously led the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and served as French finance minister.
She quickly established herself as a critic of President Donald Trump, as Breitbart News reported, and before his return to the White House issued a global caution, saying he was likely to put the U.S. at odds with Europe in several areas, including trade protectionism, military support for NATO and the fight against climate change. Lagarde said:
If we learn lessons from history, from looking at the way he led the first four years of his mandate, it [a Trump return] is clearly a threat.
It is enough to look at trade tariffs, the commitment to NATO, the fight against climate change … In these three areas alone, in the past, U.S. interests were not aligned with those of Europe.
The Guardian reports Lagarde’s early departure fires the starting gun on the race to replace her as chief at the Frankfurt-based institution.,
It comes at a time when the eurozone is struggling with weak growth and above-target inflation.
French career bureaucrat Christine Lagarde has long been a fixture the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual elitist gathering in Davos, Switzerland. (Jason Alden/Bloomberg via Getty)
Potential candidates include the former Dutch central bank president Klaas Knot, the Spanish banker Pablo Hernández de Cos, German central bank chief, Joachim Nagel, and Nadia Calviño, the president of the European Investment Bank.