'Lagarde will take ECB out of ivory tower'

Christine Lagarde will ensure European Central Bank policymakers climb down from their "ivory tower" and face the political realities of the euro zone, the ECB's vice president, Luis de Guindos, said in an interview published on Saturday. Lagarde, a former finance minister of France and head of the International Monetary Fund, will replace Mario Draghi at the helm of the ECB on Nov. 1. She is set to become the first ECB president with no formal training in economics.

"Central bankers have sometimes been working in an ivory tower," de Guindos, a former Spanish finance minister, told Spanish daily El Pais. "Christine Lagarde - not to mention myself - is well versed in the euro area's mechanisms. The ECB's decision-makers need to understand the context, make sound choices from among the alternatives and communicate appropriately," he added in the interview conducted on October 11.