Feb 19 (Reuters) – Christine Lagarde expects completing her mission as president of the European Central Bank will take until the end of her term, she told the Wall Street Journal in an interview on Thursday, 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, 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 press, 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 that the World Economic Forum is “one of the many options” she is considering once she leaves the central bank.
(Reporting by Abu Sultan in Bengaluru; Editing by Kim Coghill)
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