FrankfurtChristine Lagarde leaves the European Central Bank on 7 February 2027.
Leaders pick her successor before a French election that polls say Marine Le Pen is favoured to win.
European Council President Antonio Costa opened the appointment process Thursday, with Klaas Knot and Pablo Hernández de Cos seen as frontrunners.
The bank held its deposit rate Thursday, and markets barely moved on the resignation.
It decides on rates again on 17 December, with a hike in play.
How each outlet framed it
drawn from 700+ reports worldwide
- Deutsche Welle
- gives the 7 February 2027 departure date and says the successor process starts immediately, tied to a key meeting on France's public finances
- France 24
- TASS
- reports Lagarde's own explanation of the bandages as a minor medical procedure, and the 2027 succession timing linked to Le Pen's possible win
- South China Morning Post
- reports a source saying Lagarde resigned to weigh in on French and global politics, against the ECB's expected neutrality
- Rappler
- names Klaas Knot and Pablo Hernandez de Cos as the frontrunners for the successor
- Reuters
- maps the resignation's market effect: the winner of the French election will have no role in picking the next ECB president, so French debt is the watch point
Sources: Deutsche Welle, France 24, TASS, South China Morning Post, Rappler, Reuters