ECB’s Lagarde: Klaas Knot “Could, Absolutely” Be My Successor

5 October 2025

By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde on Sunday confirmed that former Governing Council member Klaas Knot had the requisite qualities to be ECB president.

“Oh, he could, absolutely” lead the ECB, she said in an interview conducted Thursday in Amsterdam for Dutch podcast “College Leaders in Finance.”

Asked to explain her assessment of Knot’s qualifications, she responded, “I’ve seen him for the last six years and I knew him before that… He has the intellect, he has the stamina … he’s capable of including people, and … that is a skill that is rare and very necessary.”

National central bank governors all considered themselves a “prima donna,” she said. “And they are, in their respective country. But you bring them around the table, and you have to include them, and you have to listen to them, and you have to care for them, and you have to facilitate … bringing them into the fold so that you end up with a collective decision. He [Knot] has that.”

“He's not the only one … don’t get me wrong,” she added.

Told it was funny to hear her label Knot a prima donna, she said, “But that’s legitimate, because they are the boss in their respective country for when it comes to monetary matters, supervision of the financial system, and they have a really solid and important job.”

“But when they all come to Frankfurt, at the ECB, they are one of 26,” she continued. The transition “has to be facilitated by whoever is the president. And I think that he can do that.”

Lagarde said she missed Knot, whose mandate as head of De Nederlandsche Bank ended at the end of June.