TL;DR
- A Financial Times report says ECB President Christine Lagarde is weighing leaving before October 2027; the ECB says she has made no decision.
- Her tenure has pushed the digital euro and warned MiCA-era stablecoins could still threaten monetary policy, urging euro-denominated alternatives to dollar tokens.
- EU lawmakers are expected to adopt the digital euro law in 2026, enabling a 12-month pilot in 2H 2027 and possible first issuance in 2029.
A report that Christine Lagarde may consider leaving the European Central Bank before her term ends in October 2027 is landing at a delicate time for Europe’s digital money plans. An early succession question is suddenly intersecting with a policy project that needs continuity. The Financial Times said she is weighing an exit ahead of France’s April 2027 presidential election so Emmanuel Macron and Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz can agree on a successor. An ECB spokesperson pushed back, saying Lagarde is focused on her mission and has not decided. Timing is stirring market chatter now.
Succession risk meets the digital euro runway
Under Lagarde, the ECB has advanced preparatory work on a digital euro while repeatedly warning about risks from privately issued digital money, including stablecoins, under the EU’s MiCA regime. The policy pitch is defensive: avoid “digital dollarization” while building euro-native rails. Officials have argued that rapidly growing stablecoins could pose financial stability and monetary policy risks even with MiCA safeguards, and they have called for a strong market for well regulated euro-denominated stablecoins to compete with dollar tokens. Lagarde has also criticized Bitcoin as “highly speculative” and “worth nothing,” shaping the ECB’s tone for years.
A shortlist of potential successors highlighted in the report includes Pablo Hernández de Cos, Klaas Knot, Isabel Schnabel and Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel. The bench looks unlikely to soften the ECB’s cautious line on crypto. Hernández de Cos has framed crypto assets and stablecoins as financial stability risks needing strong supervision, while Knot has called for a robust global regulatory framework. Nagel has linked the digital euro to European monetary and financial sovereignty and has labeled Bitcoin a “digital tulip.” Schnabel previously described Bitcoin as a speculative asset without recognizable fundamental value in past speeches.
The digital euro still needs approval from EU lawmakers, even as the ECB has entered a technical preparation stage and launched collaborations aimed at universal access. The timeline is legislative first, then pilots, which makes leadership stability more than cosmetic. Executive Board member Piero Cipollone said co-legislators are expected to adopt the digital euro regulation during 2026. He said that would enable a 12-month pilot in a controlled Eurosystem environment starting in the second half of 2027, involving limited providers, merchants and staff. The Eurosystem aims to be ready for potential first issuance in 2029.
