Christine Lagarde

President, European Central Bank

Search every verified Christine Lagarde interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Christine Lagarde, President of the European Central Bank, held press conferences on July 16 and July 23, 2026, following the ECB Governing Council's monetary policy meetings. On both occasions, she announced that the council decided to keep the three key ECB interest rates unchanged. She stated that the outlook for energy prices, while highly volatile, was close to the baseline of the June Eurosystem staff projections and well above levels recorded prior to the conflict in the Middle East, adding that uncertainty remains high and the full inflationary impact of the energy shock has yet to play out. Lagarde said the ECB is committed to setting monetary policy to ensure that inflation stabilizes at the 2% target in the medium term and will follow a data-dependent, meeting-by-meeting approach, not pre-committing to a particular rate path. She noted the decision was unanimous, but qualified that some governors questioned whether a rate hike should be considered. Lagarde warned that the longer energy prices stay high, the more likely they are to drive up broader inflation through indirect and second-round effects, and that inflation is likely to stay well above target into the first half of 2027. When asked about speculation that she might leave the ECB early, Lagarde said, "You are not going to see the back of me before 2027," and added that "when there are clouds on the horizon the captain stays on the ship and this captain is staying on this ship as long as there are clouds on the horizon." In an interview with Euronews on July 8, Lagarde rejected claims that the digital euro is designed to replace cash or allow the central bank to monitor payments. She said that cash will be "rejuvenated" and that the digital euro is needed because the euro area depends on payment infrastructure under foreign capital, predominantly from the US and China. Lagarde stated, "The best thing I know is a European solution," adding that "we need to have a European solution because we want to be sovereign at home." She also commented on the upcoming French presidential elections, saying "I'm not a candidate for anything, but I'm very keen that Europe is protected, that Europe is the framework within which member states operate, including