The fallen Weef boss Klaus Schwab wanted ECB chef Christine Lagarde as a successor. He didn’t make it any easier

It didn’t come out of the blue, the message last week about a possible future job for Christine Lagarde. The current chief of the European Central Bank (ECB), wrote business newspaper Financial Times (FT), has been in conversation about the chairmanship of the World Economic Forum (WEF) as the following position.

Has been going for a long time, among other things in Switzer and German media, The rumor that Lagarde (69) would be in the picture as the new boss of the Wef, a think tank that is best known for its annual conference of political and business leaders in Davos, Switzerland.

What made the FT message spicy: the source, and what that source told exactly. The source was Klaus Schwab, founder and until recently chairman of the Wef. Schwab (87) was sent out last month by the WEF advisory council De Laan, after accusations of self-enrichment via the Wef.

The German-Swiss economist told the FT that he is not only « several years » in conversation with Lagarde about his own follow-up, but Lagarde would also possibly stop at the ECB before the end of her period, at the end of October 2027. She would like to make the switch « at the last beginning of 2027 », according to Schwab.

Schwabs statements about Lagarde are harmful to the ECB chairman: above her is now the image she wants to leave Frankfurt earlier, where the ECB is sitting. The ECB serves as a survey of stability in the eurozone and does not benefit from unrest at the top. An ECB spokesperson quickly came up with a (short) reaction: Lagarde has always been ‘fully committed’ to her role at the ECB and she is ‘determined to serve her term’.

Both the words of Schwab and the response of the ECB raise the necessary questions.

To start with the ECB: coming Thursday, Lagarde will give a regular press conference after an interest meeting. She will probably also be asked about this issue by the press. So far, the ECB press information has not denied howling that Lagarde has talked to Schwab about a premature switch. The fact that she is now « determined » to « serve her term » does not mean that she did not consider it.

In addition to Schwab, the FT has also spoken anonymous sources that confirm the story. Lagarde would have expressed her doubts whether it was a good idea to say goodbye to the ECB prematurely. Lagardes predecessors, Mario Draghi and Jean-Claude Trichet, both finished their eight-year term. The first ECB president, Wim Duisenberg (1998-2003), did not do this, but this was because of a political compromise: France had demanded that Trichet could take over the baton halfway through the term.

Before Lagarde became ECB president, she led the International Monetary Fund and was French Minister of Finance. At the end of her ECB period she will be 71 years old.

Villa complex

Attractive about the Wef would, apart from the probably more empty agenda, also be the workplace. The organization is sitting at Lake Geneva and has a villa complex (Villa Mundi), which is used for conferences and which also includes an apartment. According to Schwab, that apartment was already reserved for Lagarde.

It is unclear whether Schwab spoke about this – and in general – the truth. In the Swiss press The question is raised whether Schwab, who is reportedly was very angry about his forced departure at the WEF, wanted to meet his opponents via the FT. A whistleblower would have said that Schwab would have used an apartment in Villa Mundi Privé. By saying that the apartment was not meant for him, but for Lagarde, he would have wanted to parry this.

Schwab tells the FT that his plan to make Lagarde the new WEF boss, may have failed because of his own forced departure, last month: the reputation of the WEF would have been too badly damaged. « I don’t want to lose her. I want to be sure that what is built here … is not destroyed. »

But after Schwabs statements in the FT this week it only seems to have become more difficult, if not impossible, to bring Lagarde to the Wef. After all, she would follow the agenda of a man who has since fallen into disgrace.

To share

Mail the editors