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European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde will later receive the Sutherland Leadership Award in O’Reilly Hall, raising questions on UCD’s good faith toward the 'Encampment Agreement', in which UCD committed to reviewing its process for awards by June 2025.
President of the European Central Bank Christine Lagarde will receive the prestigious Sutherland Leadership Award at O'Reilly Hall in UCD today, with heightened security measures deployed around the venue quickly sparking interest from students.
The Sutherland Leadership Award was first established in 2018, and named after former EU Commissioner and World Trade Organisation Director Peter Sutherland, recognising international leaders who “epitomise the values of Peter Sutherland.” Business & Finance and Ireland Inc are the organisers of the award, in association with KPMG, and listing UCD as “university partners”.
In May 2024, then US Speaker Nancy Pelosi was awarded the Sutherland Leadership Award in UCD, to a chorus of protests outside the O’Reilly Hall. Then Students’ Union President Martha Ní Riada was forcibly removed from the event by security services after she stood up and said, “Pelosi is a Zionist and a war criminal [...] What about Palestinian women?”
Christine Lagarde and the ECB
Christine Lagarde is the former chief of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), serving from 2011 to 2019. In 2016, she was found guilty of ‘negligence by a person in position of public authority’ in a French court for approving a payout of taxpayer money to French businessman Bernard Tapie during her time as French finance minister in 2008. She retained her job in the IMF, and was handed no punishment.
Lagarde also received backlash in 2019 when she discussed Palestinian economic growth at a “peace conference”, and was widely criticised for sidelining key political issues. While the conference aimed to promote economic development in Palestinian territories, no Palestinian leadership were consulted about the US-led conference. The conference was framed in a way that denied Palestinian statehood, and was widely condemned for failing to address core issues such as Israeli occupation in the West Bank. As a result, the event was boycotted by Palestinians. During the conference, Lagarde stated that its ideal outcome could “lead to economic growth in the Palestinian territories with international goodwill”, a remark many saw as dismissing the fundamental question of Palestinian sovereignty.
The European Central Bank (ECB), which Lagarde is the president of, has also come under criticism in the past for its open statements on Israel and Palestine. The ECB focuses on monetary policy and economic stability, and is supposed to avoid official stances on international affairs. In October 2023, the ECB initially posted on Instagram “We stand with the people of Israel”, following the October 7 attacks in Israel. The post was extremely controversial both externally and internally for the ECB, with many stating the ECB does not have a mandate to have a stance on the matter.
The discussion of the issue by staff on the trade union forum of the ECB, the International and European Public Services Organisation (IPSO), was also subject to controversy when statements on the forum were removed. POLITICO reported at the time that IPSO closed the threads as comments were reported as “offensive to the communities concerned and below the standard applicable to the forum.” This, along with international backlash, prompted the ECB to release a follow-up message to their initial Instagram post stating it was “shocked and saddened by the unfolding events in the Middle East”.
UCD Encampment Agreement
UCD Students’ Union, UCD BDS, UCD Academics for Palestine and UCD Justice for Palestine set up a Palestine Solidarity Encampment on UCD Campus in May 2024 to protest UCD’s stance on Palestine, and issued 12 key demands for the university to meet. BDS and other groups came to the table with UCD, and dispersed once an agreement was reached. In the agreement, UCD has stated they “remain committed to sustaining an inclusive university culture, respecting a diversity of views, and sense of belonging for all”.
UCD BDS state that the encampment agreement saw UCD commit to reviewing its process for awards by June 2025. Whilst this award ceremony is not in direct breach of this agreement, given it is only March, hosting an award ceremony on campus that was bound to be controversial, adjacent to where the encampment was held less than a year before, begs the question of whether UCD is respecting the spirit of the agreement they have made.
With the ECB’s 2023 post declaring their support of Israel, and Largarde’s previous participation in the conference that critics argue ignored Palestinian statehood, alongside the the agreement UCD holds with UCD BDS and the controversy in UCD when Nancy Pelosi was honoured with this same award last year, it is worth asking whether UCD’s decision to keep her award ceremony so low-profile was intentional.
In a comment to the University Observer, UCD BDS stated they were "disappointed but not surprised to see that President Lagarde has been invited to receive an award in UCD today.”
They continued, “As IMF chief she supported a US imperialist plan to divvy up Palestinian land and deny Palestinian’s right to statehood in the name of ‘economic opportunity’. At the beginning of this phase of the genocide, the Lagarde led ECB declared it ‘stood with Israel’, overstepping its mandate in order to show support for a genocide.”
“It is only fitting then that she follows in the footsteps of genocide supporter Nancy Pelosi in being honoured by UCD. As a result of last year’s encampment, the university has committed to reviewing its process for awards by June 2025. We will continue to hold UCD accountable for this and for all parts of the agreement.”