Verbatim report of proceedings

Tuesday, 17 September 2019 - Strasbourg

Appointment of the President of the European Central Bank - Candidate: Ms Christine Lagarde (debate)

  Luděk Niedermayer (PPE). – Madam President, I was a central banker for most of my working life so this is an emotional issue for me, in addition to being an issue of very great importance. We were lucky to have excellent chiefs of the European Central Bank (ECB), such as Jean—Claude Trichet and Mario Draghi, and we must keep the standard high. It was said that the European Central Bank has changed in the last decade and so the profile of the appointment has changed. Instead of looking for top—notch academia economists or experienced central bankers, those who make appointments also look for people not just with strong economic backgrounds but with political skills and experience of the financial sector. From this point of view, Christine Lagarde, for me, is an excellent choice and she has my full support.

And I guess her appointment was supported at the lengthy hearing of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, which I had the privilege to chair a few days ago. Still, we have one great risk ahead of us: it seems to me that many ministers and politicians believe that some mysterious magic monetary policy can serve as a replacement for necessary, badly needed economic reforms. That’s not right and I believe Christine Lagarde is well-positioned to stress the importance of policies other than just monetary policy. I hope she will be listened to carefully by ministers.