**"**I'm not a candidate for anything, but I'm very keen that Europe is protected, that Europe is the framework within which member states operate, including France," ECB president Christine Lagarde, who is a French national, told Euronews in an exclusive interview.
Lagarde said she is monitoring the campaign ahead of a vote due April 2027, hoping that "reason will always prevail and that France will appreciate, whoever is the leader of France that it is one key member of Europe."
"Europe is the only playground with which member states, nations and even France can actually play a significant role," she added, in an interview with The Europe Conversation.
Her comments came in the wake of new developments in the French presidential election. On Tuesday, France's National Rally leader Marine Le Pen said she still intended to run for president in 2027 despite a Paris appeals court upholding a conviction linked to embezzlement of EU funds in relation to European parliament jobs.
Despite the convictions, she was cleared to run but must wear an electronic tag. Le Pen has a long track record of criticising the European institutions for their supranational powers and has instead advocated for a return to a Europe of nations.
