Friends’ promotions, freedom of speech denied, employees’ health at risk. An internal dossier nails the ECB’s number one. Which doesn’t say it right about his future in politics.
Draghi worked for the ECB, while the lady made sure that the ECB worked for her.” There are quite a few employees of the European Central Bank who, in the aftermath of the interview with Les Echos in which Christine Lagarde contradicted herself by announcing her probable early farewell to the presidency of the Eurotower, commented on her words in a sarcastic manner. Sarcasm mixed with bewilderment, because in the back and forth with the main French economic newspaper, Madame Lagarde managed in one fell swoop to confirm all the criticisms that accompanied her mandate, now almost seven years old, in Frankfurt.
Starting from poor personal credibility. A few months ago, it was February, the president in the suit had spoken to the Wall Street Journal to angrily deny the rumors from the Financial Times that she would be leaving before October 2027, the natural end of her office. It probably wasn’t the right time to come out yet. Not to mention how much this management is damaging the image and reputation of the Central Bank. And there are several trigger points here. When Lagarde motivates her early farewell with the need to make “a European voice” heard in the debate for the Elysée, she makes a choice of side against the French sovereignist forces, thus bringing into the political arena the same Frankfurt institution which has always made independence and autonomy its strong points.
But there’s more. Because it indirectly confirms the suspicion that there may have been an underlying political streak (to use a euphemism) in some of his decisions. When, for example, it pushed, as never happened in the past, the green policies desired by Europe and strongly opposed instead by Rassemblement National, the sovereignist party of Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella. Or when (September 2025) he reassured the markets about France’s stability despite the high deficit/GDP ratio (above 5%), political instability, the surge in Oat (government bond) yields and the risky rating, recalling the existence of an anti-spread shield such as the Tpi (unlimited purchases of sovereign bonds by the ECB) which can be easily activated. At the time, the Bayrou government had just fallen, Emmanuel Macron’s political appeal was at an all-time low and there was talk of early elections that would open a highway to the sovereignist right.
In short, never have reassurances been more politically “impactful”. Or worse still if, as many think, Lagarde were to decide to resign to let Macron have a role in choosing the next president of the ECB. For the sake of the series, we don’t even want to know who Marine Le Pen’s Eurotower candidate could be. Suspicions that were emphasized by the employees of the European Central Bank, who especially through Ipso, the institution’s trade union, have repeatedly criticized the actions of the former number one of the International Monetary Fund. «In recent years», they explain from the International and European public services organization to Panorama, «not only the climate has worsened, but also the governance of the institution. Staff freedom of expression is diminished. The President did not act on the issues identified, particularly concerns regarding favoritism towards staff. For the first time in the history of the ECB, there was direct intimidation of staff representatives to silence them, as well as changes to the electoral rules and staff representation framework to try to achieve different electoral results. All this while the rule of law and democracy are officially praised.”
Consequences? «This situation is making many people sick. Thus the rate of burnout (physical, emotional and mental exhaustion, ed.) went from approximately 33% in 2021 to 39% in 2024 and the risks of suicidal tendencies have doubled compared to what happened with the Draghi presidency.” Favoritism first and foremost. According to the union, it has often happened in recent years that the ECB has had hiring and promotion procedures that only apparently appeared to be based on merit, while in reality they represented a safe haven to “please” a pre-established candidate. Not that everything was rosy with Draghi, mind you, but with the management of the former number one of the International Monetary Fund, many banks have fallen.
If we compare an internal survey on the topic conducted by Ipso itself in April 2025 with that of 2015, when the ECB was led by the former Italian prime minister, the result is merciless. 77% of those interviewed (around 1,400 workers) today think that to have a career in the European Central Bank it is necessary to “know the right people”, 12 percentage points more than a decade ago. While only 34% believe that positions are achieved by “doing one’s job well”, compared to 46% in 2015. Not exactly a triumph of meritocracy also because just 19% believe that the ECB does a good job in promoting “the most competent people”. It may seem like a marginal issue, but it isn’t. Because if the vast majority of employees are convinced that this is the trend, it goes without saying that in the future they will prefer to dedicate themselves to networking activities rather than work. And it’s not that if the discussion shifts to freedom of expression and the level of internal democracy, things will be better. «Not everyone knows that shortly after Lagarde took office», they further explain from Ipso, «the anonymous forum of the Personnel Committee was closed. A space where people could discuss work-related issues internally. It seems that the new president didn’t like a conversation that questioned her competence to hold the position. Result? Ipso has created its own anonymous forum on the Internet.” It is therefore natural that according to a recent survey only 38% of staff (excluding interns) believe they can express themselves freely without suffering retaliation.
The story of Carlos Bowles, president of the Staff Committee and vice-president of Ipso is not new but deserves to be told. Also because he is a historic representative of workers’ rights who has often crossed paths with the upper echelons of the Frankfurt institution but had never reached this point of conflict. In an interview with the German newspaper Börsen-Zeitung just over a year ago, the trade unionist commented, with survey numbers in hand, on the problems of internal democracy, burnout and favouritism. For the ECB and Lagarde that interview represented a clear violation of the duty of loyalty, while Bowles evidently believed he was just doing his job. The parties are now in litigation.
Just as the president’s travels have not gone unnoticed, and it is difficult to understand the relationship with monetary policy decisions. For example in Paris, on the occasion of the 2024 Olympic Games, when she gave an interview in which she talked about how having practiced synchronized swimming at a competitive level taught her to “grit your teeth and smile”. Or in Ukraine, we are in June 2025 in Kiev, with Lagarde taking care to reassure President Zelensky about EU financial support. And finally with the very recent participation (June 2026) in a conference in Aix-en-Provence where the lady in the suit gave the speech Women and leadership: widening the pipeline. Commendable, God forbid, but it is difficult to understand the link of all this with inflation and with the decision to raise, lower or keep interest rates steady. To be malicious, one might think that they were “image” meetings and that they therefore strengthened Madame’s political role rather than her “monetarist” role.
And the events of these days evidently confirm that it is a sin to think badly, but often you get it right.
