Christine Madeleine Odette Lagarde (; , ; born 1 January 1956) is a French politician and lawyer who has been the president of the European Central Bank since 2019. She previously served as the 11th Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) from 2011 to 2019. Lagarde had also served in the Government of France, most prominently as Minister of the Economy, Finance and Industry from 2007 until 2011. She is the first woman to hold each of those posts.
Born and raised in Paris, Lagarde graduated from law school at Paris Nanterre University and obtained a Master's degree from Sciences Po Aix. After being admitted to the Paris Bar, she joined the international law firm Baker & McKenzie as an associate in 1981, specializing in labour and anti-trust, as well as mergers and acquisitions. Rising through the ranks, she was a member of the executive committee of the firm from 1995 until 1999, before being elevated to its Chair between 1999 and 2004; she was the first woman in both positions. She held the top post until she decided to go into public service.
Lagarde returned to France when appointed Minister of Foreign Trade from 2005 to 2007, then briefly served as Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries from May to June 2007, and finally, as Minister of Finance from 2007 to 2011, making her the first woman to hold the finance portfolio of any Group of Eight economy. During her tenure, Lagarde oversaw the government response to the 2008 financial crisis, for which the Financial Times ranked her the best finance minister in the Eurozone.
On 5 July 2011, Lagarde was elected to replace Dominique Strauss-Kahn as managing director of the IMF for a five-year term. Her appointment was the 11th consecutive appointment of a European to head the IMF. She was selected by consensus for a second five-year term, starting 5 July 2016, being the only candidate nominated for the post. In December 2016, a French court convicted her of negligence relating to her role in the Bernard Tapie arbitration, but did not impose a penalty. Lagarde resigned from the IMF following her nomination as president of the ECB.
From 2019 to 2025 (excluding 2021), Forbes ranked her second on its World's 100 Most Powerful Women list.
Early life and education Christine Lagarde was born in Paris, France, into a family of teachers. Her father, Robert Lallouette, "born to a Jewish mother and a French father", was an English teacher; her mother, Nicole (Carré), was a Latin, Greek and French literature teacher. Lagarde and her three younger brothers spent their childhood in Le Havre. There she attended the Lycée François 1er (where her father taught) and Lycée Claude Monet."Les Anciens " at Lycée François 1er
As a teenager, Lagarde was a member of the French national synchronised swimming team. After her baccalauréat in 1973, she went on an American Field Service scholarship to the Holton-Arms School in Bethesda, Maryland. During her year in the United States, Lagarde worked as an intern at the U.S. Capitol as Representative William Cohen's congressional assistant, helping him correspond with French-speaking constituents from his northern Maine district during the Watergate hearings.Shapira, Ian, "Christine Lagarde stirs wistful memories for friends in Holton Arms Class of ’74", The Washington Post, 29 July 2011. She graduated from Paris Nanterre University, where she obtained master's degrees in English, labour law, and social law. She also holds a master's degree from the Sciences Po Aix in Aix-en-Provence. Since 2010, she has presided over the Aix school's board of directors.
Professional career Lagarde joined Baker & McKenzie, a large Chicago-based international law firm, in 1981. She was a director of two of the firm's subsidiaries in tax havens. She handled major antitrust and labour cases, was made partner after six years and was named head of the firm in Western Europe. She joined the executive committee in 1995 and was elected the company's first female chairman in October 1999. Three years later she was reelected. At Baker & McKenzie Lagarde promulgated a “client first” approach whereby lawyers anticipated client needs rather than solely reacting to exigent situations.
In 2004, Lagarde became president of the Global Strategic Committee.
Ministerial career As France's trade minister between 2005 and May 2007, Lagarde prioritized opening new markets for the country's products, focusing on the technology sector. On 18 May 2007, she was moved to the Ministry of Agriculture as part of the government of François Fillon. The following month she joined Fillon's cabinet in the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Finance and Employment. She was the only member of the French political class to condemn Jean-Paul Guerlain's racist remarks of 2010. In government, she implemented liberal economic reforms, such as liberalizing the labor market, lowering estate taxes, and an austerity plan for public services.
International Monetary Fund Appointment
On 25 May 2011, Lagarde announced her candidacy to be head of the IMF to succeed Dominique Strauss-Kahn, upon his resignation. Her candidacy received the support of the British, Indian, United States, Brazilian, Russian, Chinese and German governments. The governor of the Bank of Mexico (and former Secretary of Finance) Agustín Carstens was also nominated for the post. His candidacy was supported by many Latin American governments, as well as Spain, Canada and Australia.
On 28 June 2011, the IMF board elected Lagarde as its next managing director and chairman for a five-year term, starting on 5 July 2011. The IMF's executive board praised both Lagarde and Carstens as well-qualified, but decided on the former by consensus. Lagarde became the first woman to be elected as the head of the IMF. Carstens would have been the first non-European. Her appointment came amid the intensification of the European sovereign debt crisis especially in Greece, with fears looming of loan defaults. The United States in particular supported her speedy appointment in light of the fragility of Europe's economic situation.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said that Lagarde's "exceptional talent and broad experience will provide invaluable leadership for this indispensable institution at a critical time for the global economy." President Nicolas Sarkozy referred to Lagarde's appointment as "a victory for France." Oxfam, a charity working in developing nations, called the appointment process "farcical" and argued that what it saw as a lack of transparency hurt the IMF's credibility.Oxfam has called for the public release of the transcript of Christine Lagarde’s interview with the IMF Board , news release dated 28 June 2011 at Oxfam.org, accessed 18 September 2018
On 17 December 2015, Michel Sapin, French Finance Minister, said that Lagarde could stay on as head of the IMF, despite being charged with criminal negligence. Throughout her time at the IMF, she repeatedly ruled herself out of the races to secure a top job in Europe, including the positions of President of the European Commission and President of the European Central Bank.James Politi, Sam Fleming and Alex Barker (12 September 2018), Christine Lagarde rules herself out of race for top jobs in EU Financial Times. On 2 July 2019, Lagarde was nominated to serve as the next president of the ECB, to succeed Mario Draghi. She subsequently submitted her resignation as managing director.Matthew Rocco (16 July 2019), IMF chief Christine Lagarde resigns following ECB nomination Financial Times.
Viewpoints
In July 2010, Lagarde told the PBS NewsHour that the IMF's lending program for distressed European countries was "a very massive plan, totally unexpected, totally counter-treaty, because it wasn't scheduled in the treaty that we should do a bailout program, as we did." She also said, "we had essentially a trillion dollars on the table to confront any market attack that would target any country, whether it's Greece, Spain, Portugal, or anybody within the eurozone." With respect to the French economy, she stated that besides short-term stimulus efforts: "we must, very decisively, cut our deficit and reduce our debt."
In public remarks made right after her appointment, Lagarde stated that both the IMF and EU required Greek austerity measures as a prerequisite for further aid. She said, "If I have one message tonight about Greece, it is to call on the Greek political opposition to support the party that is currently in power in a spirit of national unity." She said of her predecessor that: "The IMF has taken up the challenges of the crisis thanks to the actions of Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn and to his team as well." On 25 December 2011, Lagarde argued that the world economy was at risk and urged Europeans to unify in terms of the debt crisis facing the continent.
In July 2012, as the Greek economy continued to decline, and the country's leaders asked for an easing of the terms of external assistance, Lagarde said she was "not in the negotiation or renegotiation mood at all." A year later, though, with her own organization conceding that its "rescue" package for Greece had fallen short of what was required, Lagarde—having previously said that Greece's debt burden was "sustainable"—decided that Greece would not recover unless its debt was written off in a meaningful way. According to Yanis Varoufakis, the combative former Finance Minister of Greece, Lagarde and others at the top of the IMF were quite sympathetic behind closed doors, while stating that inside the Eurogroup there were "a few kind words and that was it". As the crisis peaked again in summer 2015, Lagarde's organization made headlines by calling for massive debt relief for Greece, a call she reiterated personally. In 2016, the IMF refused to participate with eurozone countries in further emergency financing for Greece, because concrete measures to relieve the country of its debt burden remained absent.
Questioned about her economic philosophy, Lagarde has described herself as "with Adam Smith—that is, liberal."
"Payback" controversy
In an interview in May 2012, Lagarde was asked about the Greek government-debt crisis. She mentioned Greek tax avoidance, and assented to the interviewer's suggestion that Greeks had "had a nice time" but now "it is payback time." Her comments provoked controversy, with future Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras stating, "We don't need her compassion," and then-Deputy Prime Minister Evangelos Venizelos saying she had "insulted the Greek people." In an effort to quell the negative response, the next day Lagarde made a post to her Facebook page saying: "As I have said many times before, I am very sympathetic to the Greek people and the challenges they are facing." Within 24 hours, over 10,000 comments had been left in response, many of them obscene.
In response to Lagarde's belief that not enough Greeks paid their taxes, Professor Emeritus John Weeks of the University of London said, "The moral weight of Christine Lagarde's matronising of the Greeks to pay their taxes is not strengthened by the fact that, as director of the IMF, she is in receipt of a tax-free annual salary of $468,000 (£298,000, plus perks)." Robert W. Wood, in a Forbes article, wrote that "No taxes is the norm for most United Nations employees covered by a convention on diplomatic relations signed by most nations."
Comment on King Abdullah
In January 2015, on the death of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, Lagarde said "he was a strong believer in pushing forward women's rights", prompting a number of observers to comment on the life of women generally in Saudi Arabia.
Loan to Argentina