A cold shower awaited Christine Lagarde in Frankfurt this Monday, returning from the prestigious Davos Economic Forum with the world's greats, where she spoke last week.
On the floors of the communications and human resources department of the European Central Bank (ECB) tower, on the banks of the Main, panic spread among the staff on Monday morning when a survey was published internal on the image of the president.
Revealed by the Politico site, the survey carried out by the IPSO union reveals that a small majority (50.6%) of respondents judge
the performance of Christine Lagarde, who has led the institution since October, as “
bad
” or “
very bad
”. 2019. For comparison, only 8.9% had such a judgment on his predecessor, the Italian Mario Draghi, at the end of his mandate.
On the contrary, the action of the man nicknamed the “
savior of the euro
” was judged by three quarters of them to be “
extraordinary
”, “
very good
” or “
good
”.
“
Mario Draghi was there for the ECB while the ECB seems to be there for Christine Lagarde
,” one of the anonymous respondents in the survey bluntly scolds.
Very present in the media, the former general director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and former French minister nevertheless continues to speak out about the ECB across Europe, with the desire to democratize its messages to the population.
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The ECB under pressure from the markets
Contested methodology
Fundamentally, more than half of the people who responded to the survey say they doubt the ECB's ability to bring inflation back to its 2% target, while Christine Lagarde and the 25 members of the institute's Governing Council monetary policy are emphasizing their determination to achieve this by 2025. The subject could come up during the president's next press conference, this Thursday, during which she should temper expectations of an upcoming rate cut.
The ECB management vigorously denounces the legitimacy of this survey, the methodology of which it contests.
Only 1,100 people out of more than 5,000 employees responded, half of whom clearly say they are unhappy with their work at the ECB.
According to her own studies, on the contrary, she estimates that eight out of ten employees would be proud to work there.
“
This poll is incorrect.
It mentions subjects for which the management board or the Governing Council, and not the president alone, is responsible,
” reacts an ECB spokesperson.
Furthermore, regarding the methodology, nothing prevents an employee from responding several times.
“
The president and the board are fully focused on their mandate and have implemented policies to respond to the unprecedented events of recent years, such as the pandemic and wars,”
continues the Frankfurt headquarters
.
The ECB collects feedback from its staff through regular surveys carried out in accordance with professional standards, and will continue to do so.
»
This dispute comes against a backdrop of wage discontent among the ECB unions.
Since the strong inflationary surge of the last two years, staff representatives have strongly criticized and threatened to strike against the salary policy of the institution, responsible for maintaining price stability in the euro zone.
At the end of 2023, management proposed a general increase of 4.6%, resulting from an index aligned with remuneration in comparable international institutions.