France and Germany Are Playing a Dangerous Game

To loosely paraphrase Oscar Wilde: The euro zone losing two central bankers in swift succession might seem like carelessness. On further scrutiny, however, it is all by political design. It will require a deft hand to avoid this becoming another gift to elite-bashing populists.

European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde’s apparent openness to stepping down a year early is raising the alarm so soon after a similar move by French central bank head Francois Villeroy de Galhau. While past ECB appointments have always had an air of backroom dealing to satisfy the leaders in Berlin and Paris, this feels like a potentially dangerous precedent even if the end goal is to meet the euro’s global moment against a Trump-tarnished dollar.