The meeting on Wednesday will allow members of Parliament’s economic and monetary affairs committee to assess the candidate and make a recommendation as to whether she should receive Parliament’s approval.
The hearing will commence at 10.30 CET and can be watched live on Parliament’s website. The economic and monetary affairs committee will vote on their recommendation on Wednesday afternoon, while Parliament as a whole is expected to vote on the matter during the session of 16-19 September.
Christine Lagarde was nominated in July by EU leaders to replace the outgoing ECB president Mario Draghi from 1 November. She has been managing director of the International Monetary Fund since 2011. Prior to that, she held several ministerial posts in France, including that of minister of the economy, finance and industry.
ECB presidents are appointed for a non-renewable term of eight years by EU heads of state or government but the Parliament must be consulted beforehand. Parliament’s opinion is not binding on the European Council but, as the democratically elected body of the EU, its view carries some weight for the legitimacy of the candidate.
Should Lagarde get the post, she will be the first woman to head the ECB. MEPs have been calling for more women in high-level posts in economic and monetary affairs.
Parliament and the ECB
A key principle in the work of the European Central Bank is its political independence, meaning it should be free to pursue its goal of maintaining price stability without being subject to political pressure.
Even so, in the interest of democratic accountability, the president of the European Central Bank attends quarterly hearings in Parliament’s economic and monetary affairs committee, known as “monetary dialogue”, to explain the bank’s monetary policy and decisions in front of the elected representatives of Europeans.
The ECB president also presents the bank’s annual report at a sitting of Parliament and responds in writing to written questions posed by MEPs.
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