EU aims to pick new ECB chief by year-end

Christine Lagarde's early decision to step down as head of the European Central Bank (ECB) has put the European Union on a tight schedule. The bloc expects to pick a new ECB chief by the end of December. The European Union (EU) wants to name the next head of the European Central Bank by the end of the year, Eurogroup chief Kyriakos Pierrakakis said Monday.

Christine Lagarde , who has headed the ECB for seven years, has announced on October 29 that she is stepping down prematurely from the position, nine months ⁠before ⁠the end of her term. Lagarde's early decision to step down makes the schedule tight because leaders must also fill two other seats on the ECB's Executive Board ​within months. "The ambition here is that the whole process would have completed itself by the end of the year," Pierrakakis said before a Eurogroup meeting of eurozone finance ministers.

"We understand that we need to move fast. But what has traditionally happened in ​the past is that this was a decision driven by the leaders. Today it will be primarily an information point and the discussion," he said.