The ceremony was perhaps only a pretext. In front of around forty people at most, in the intimate atmosphere of the Elysée winter garden, Emmanuel Macron presented the insignia of Commander of the National Order of Merit to Christine Lagarde on Wednesday, according to information from the Figaro confirmed by BFMTV. Decorated for “her contribution to the enhancement of the image of France”, the former Minister of the Economy is today the boss of the ECB… for the moment.
Her name has indeed been whispered by Nicolas Sarkozy in the ears of the Head of State, still not officially a candidate for his re-election, so that she becomes his Prime Minister in 2022. It must be said that the CV of the former director general of the IMF is imposing, and that it has carved out a fine reputation internationally. Meetings between the former President of the Republic and the current tenant of the Elysée Palace are frequent, and the Republicans even tremble at the idea that their former champion will finally support Emmanuel Macron.
Is Nicolas Sarkozy’s influence strong enough to check Christine Lagarde’s name on the 2022 ticket? “It doesn’t mean anything what the former president says. We don’t care, ”slips a minister to BFMTV. “I have a job, I have a function. I am in Frankfurt until 2027, ”defended the boss of the ECB in January on France Inter. But on the occasion of this small ceremony, the discussion can be engaged.