Stock Take

Stock Take: Under fire Lagarde has earned right to continue management of EU monetary policy

The president of the European Central Bank is stuck between a rock and a hard place when it comes to discussing potential interest rate cuts

Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank: despite an initial ‘massive’ error, the bank’s response to the inflation crisis overall has been measured and careful

It’s hard not to feel sorry for Christine Lagarde.

The president of the European Central Bank (ECB) has an impossible task in trying to carefully adjust interest rates to dampen inflation, while also appeasing impatient financial markets poring over every syllable uttered by her and her colleagues for signs of a change in sentiment.

Now, the former French politician is having to deal with unrest inside her own organisation after more than half of ECB staff described her presidency as either “poor” or “very poor” in a survey organised by the bank’s union.