The new head of France’s central bank just said the quiet part out loud: investors are losing confidence in the Federal Reserve’s independence, and Europe wants to capitalize on it.
Emmanuel Moulin, who took the helm at the Banque de France in June 2026 after parliamentary approval in May, used his appearance at the Paris Finance Forum on June 9 to frame the current moment as a “clear opportunity” for the euro to expand its role on the global stage. The backdrop is a post-conflict economic landscape where energy-driven inflation is back, central banks are diverging, and the dollar’s unquestioned dominance is getting, well, questioned.
Two central banks, two very different vibes
The ECB recently hiked its key rates by 25 basis points, responding to eurozone inflation running around 3.2%. Moulin emphasized that future ECB decisions will remain “data-dependent,” pointing to wage trends and energy price volatility as the key variables on the dashboard.
Concerns about the Fed’s political independence have been mounting, creating what Moulin diplomatically described as questions among investors about US policymaking.
