FRANKFURT AM MAIN Wearing an owl brooch to her January press conference, Christine Lagarde made clear her determination to run the European Central Bank differently from her predecessors as it hunts for a way out of crisis-management mode. “I’m neither dove nor hawk, and my ambition is to be this owl that is often associated with a little bit of wisdom,” the bank’s first female president told reporters the previous month. Central bank watchers have long resorted to ornithological categories to sort policymakers. Those favouring generous support to the economy are dubbed “doves” and those backing tough love “hawks”. The battle lines have been drawn especially clearly over the ECB’s 21- year history, as the euro single currency brings together countries with vastly different economic histories and cultural foibles around money. Lagarde took over after a turbulent few months for the Frankfurt institution and her chief aim for her first 100 days in office—a milestone she reached Saturday—was to smooth the divisions and avoid any upsets on her own account. By the end of 2019, predecessor Mario Draghi’s repeated salvos of unprecedented stimulus measures to buttress the flagging eurozone had divided members of the ECB’s governing council like never before. Doves believe the Italian economist’s generous doses of medicine helped the eurozone survive years of struggles after the 2008 financial crisis. –Agencies
