It’s official: Christine Lagarde is leaving the European Central Bank. Madame la présidente is likely to become the new boss of the World Economic Forum in Geneva and thus host of the great annual Davos(达沃斯世界经济论坛年会) gabfest(长时间的闲聊聚会). The 70-year-old former managing director(总裁，总经理) of the IMF steered(引导，掌舵) the ECB through the covid-19 pandemic and the inflationary shocks that followed.
官方消息：克里斯蒂娜·拉加德即将离开欧洲央行。这位“女主席”很可能出任日内瓦世界经济论坛的新掌门，从而成为一年一度达沃斯盛会的主持人。这位70岁的前国际货币基金组织总裁带领欧洲央行度过了新冠疫情以及随之而来的通胀冲击。
She will depart in February, nine months ahead of schedule(提前), at a moment of jeopardy(危险，危难). Her home country, France—where she was once finance minister—is going fiscally rogue(财政上失控). Failure to sort out credible budget plans has sent its bond yields soaring. The spread(利差，息差) over the German benchmark(基准) is now as high as it was during the worst of the euro-zone crisis in the early 2010s (see chart). Marine Le Pen(法国极右翼政治人物), a right-wing populist who once called for the single currency’s abolition, may next year enter the Élysée Palace(法国总统府). Ms Lagarde’s successor will have an unenviable task: persuading France to cut spending.
她将于明年二月离任，比原计划提前九个月，正值危机关头。她的祖国法国——她曾担任财政部长——财政上正变得失控。未能拿出可信的预算方案，导致法国国债收益率飙升。法国国债对德国基准国债的利差现已高达2010年代初欧元区危机最严重时的水平（见图表）。右翼民粹主义者玛丽娜·勒庞曾呼吁废除单一货币，明年可能入主爱丽舍宫。拉加德的继任者将面临一项令人羡慕不来的任务：说服法国削减开支。
Her tenure(任期) began in more innocent times. In 2019 the euro crisis was well behind(远远过去) the bank, and government debts were falling fast. The ECB’s main problem was working out(设法解决) how to get inflation—then just above 1%—to the target of 2%. It was hardly a crisis. So policymakers sought other jobs, such as making central banking more environmentally friendly.
她的任期始于一个更为单纯的年代。2019年，欧元危机早已被欧洲央行抛在身后，政府债务迅速下降。欧洲央行的主要问题是如何将当时略高于1%的通胀率提升至2%的目标。这算不上危机。于是政策制定者开始寻找其他任务，比如让央行变得更加环保。