Interview with Christine Lagarde, President of the ECB, conducted by Emma Tucker, Chelsey Dulaney, Greg Ip, Nick Timiraos, Daniel Colarusso and Amol Sharma on 19 February 2026

21 February 2025

My first question is probably not going to come as a surprise: are you considering resigning?

What a surprise. Look, I’m on a mission, and I have been ever since the beginning of my term. And the mission is driven by the mandate that the European Central Bank has. So the mission is price stability, financial stability, and I also regard our European Central Bank and myself as in charge of protecting the euro, making sure that it is solid and strong and fit for the future of Europe. That’s, for me, the mission. And when I look back at all these years, I think that we have accomplished a lot. That I have accomplished a lot – you know, I’ll take credit a little bit for that – and that we need to consolidate and make sure that this is really solid and reliable. So my baseline is that it…