00:00The FT is reporting that the ECB president, Christine Lagarde, will step down from her role
00:04before her eight-year term ends in October 2027. Now, Madame Lagarde has been linked
00:09with an early departure from the ECB before, in fact, quite often. She's often asked about
00:14whether she's running for French president or whether she wants to get back into politics.
00:19Now, last June, again, she quashed talk that she was planning to head to the World Economic Forum,
00:24and at the time, she said she was fully determined to deliver her mission,
00:28and she was determined to complete her term. Now, she recently told me in an episode of Leaders,
00:34which is a great episode, by the way, that she's not a quitter, whilst also telling me a bit tongue
00:40-in-cheek
00:40that she was surprised to learn on accepting the ECB role back in 2019, that the job carried a term
00:48of eight years rather than five. The question now, today, is why would she leave? Now, speculation
00:54of her early departure grew after the Bank of France governor said he will leave his post prematurely,
01:01offering President Macron the opportunity to replace him before elections next year. That could
01:06be won by the far right. The FT report, again, says Christine Lagarde would also want to leave
01:10before the French presidential election, again, for a similar reason. So far, an ECB spokesperson said
01:17that President Lagarde is totally focused on her mission and has not taken any decision regarding
01:23the end of her term.
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