Lagarde calls economic sovereignty Europe's shield against coercion

European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde used the Paris Peace Forum on Wednesday, 11 November, to argue that Europe needs economic independence as protection against coercion, Courthouse News Service reported. Lagarde said Europe had learned the cost of dependence several times: it paid heavily for relying on Russian energy, China has shown it will restrict exports of critical raw materials such as rare earths, and this summer the United States restricted Europe's access to the most advanced artificial intelligence model. She said Europe should develop its own AI for its security and should use the weight of its roughly 450 million citizens as leverage. She also pointed to the plumbing of money. Europe will pilot a digital euro in 2027, Courthouse News reported, as part of rebuilding payment infrastructure so that no outside power can cut off the movement of euros. Lagarde described the work as unglamorous but critical to sovereignty. Courthouse News noted that the question of independence has run through European politics since President Donald Trump returned to office, and that new forms of cyber sabotage, such as the 11 October attack on French supermarkets that France has attributed to Iran, which denies involvement, have added urgency. Lagarde announced last month that she will step down from the ECB in February.