The new head of the European Central Bank will now be former Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund Christine Lagarde. Some days ago, this decision was taken at the plenary meeting of the European Parliament. Mario Draghi, the current head of the ECB, will leave office on October 31 this year, and Ms. Lagarde will officially replace him at this post.

Mario Draghi served as ECB President for two of the two due terms, namely eight years.This news is not a surprise, though, it is more of a statement of fact. In early July, the leaders of the EU agreed at the summit to nominate Christine Lagarde for the post of the head of the ECB. She has been the IMF Managing Director since 2011. Before that, among other posts, she was the Minister of Finance of France.After the EU leaders have announced a new candidate, now all that is needed it’s a decision of the ECB Governing Council that has no objection to Lagarde taking this position. Now the European Parliament has put an end to this issue.

Lagarde herself has already resigned from the post of IMF managing director in relation with the nomination of her as a candidate for the post of the head of the ECB. IMF appointed first Deputy Managing Director David Lipton as Acting Head of the Fund, expressing "full confidence" in the American economist. Traditionally, the International Monetary Fund is managed by a representative of one of the European countries, while the World Bank is headed by an American.