Frankfurt (AFP)

Christine Lagarde officially took the presidency of the European Central Bank Friday, succeeding the Italian Mario Draghi, announced the monetary institute.

La Française "was appointed by the European Council of 18 October 2019 for an eight-year term," the ECB said in a statement.

Lagarde, the first woman to take over the presidency of the institute since its launch in 1998, experienced a professional rise punctuated by the crises experienced at the head of the French Ministry of the Economy (2007-2011) then at the International Monetary Fund ( 2011-2019).

Novice in monetary policy, it starts at the moment the ECB starts this November 1 and for as long as necessary a new controversial program of buybacks on the market, the "QE" approved in September by a board of governors very divided on the question.

The ECB will buy back 20 billion euros per month of public and private bonds in order to support the economy in short supply and sluggish inflation.

The premises will be empty at the ECB Friday Friday Toussaint, but protesters have planned to meet in front of the entrance of the glass tower and steel at 12:00 GMT at the call of the movement Attac, to demand a course more social and environmental aspects of monetary policy. They will be joined at 1300 GMT by the protesters for the climate of "Friday for future".

Lagarde already said in September that she wanted the institute to evolve, with greater emphasis on gender equality, climate action and dust-free communication of her technocratic language.

It will be mainly up to the Frenchwoman to pursue a very expansive monetary policy after years of crisis, bringing rates to their all-time low to attract strong criticism. In Germany, the popular daily Bild in September put Mr. Draghi mask "Draghila", the count siphoning the accounts of savers.

The new boss of the ECB, she sent on Wednesday at the microphone of RTL a strong message to Germany and other budget surplus countries that "have not really made the necessary efforts" to consolidate a fragile growth, while central banks "did their job"

© 2019 AFP