Christine Lagarde (familiarly known as Lady Gar-ga), the president of the European Central Bank, responded to the call by 100 European economists for the ECB to write off approximately €2.5 trillion debt to allow recovery from the pandemic (see Feb. 6 briefing) with an “Off with their heads!” declaration. “Canceling that debt is unthinkable. It would be a violation of the European treaty which strictly forbids monetary financing of states,” Lagarde told France’s Journal du Dimanche weekly.
Lagarde said that “all eurozone countries will emerge from this crisis with high levels of debt,” but claimed they would be able to pay it back due to the coming “recovery.” Perhaps she believes that the depopulation of Europe and the world will be helped along by demanding debt repayment.
