Unsurprisingly, the three expected candidates were the ones who entered the race for the Eurogroup Presidency. Spain’s Nadia Calviño, Ireland’s Paschal Donohoe and Luxembourg’s Pierre Gramegna submitted their candidacies on Thursday 25 June, the last day on which aspiring finance ministers could declare themselves candidates.
“This excellent group of candidates shows the relevance of the Eurogroup today to ensuring the stability/prosperity of the euro area”, wrote the current President, Mário Centeno, whose term of office ends on 13 July (see EUROPE 12502/16), on Twitter.
Nadia Calviño appears to be the favourite to succeed Mr Centeno and become the first woman to hold the position. According to her cover letter, her diverse experiences at the national, European and international levels give her “the well-informed and comprehensive vision required to deal with the complex challenges ahead”, she says.
The post-Covid-19 economic recovery is indeed omnipresent in the three candidates’ cover letters. If elected, Paschal Donohoe - who recalls that he is one of the oldest members of the Eurogroup - promises to work towards “an effective, inclusive and transparent Eurogroup that is an engine for European economic recovery, prosperity and jobs”.
Having already been a candidate in 2017 to succeed Jeroen Dijsselbloem (see EUROPE 11916/18), Pierre Gramegna committed to “seek consensus and aim to build bridges between the North and the South, the East and the West, treating small and large Member States in an equally fair manner”.
The die is now cast. The election of the future President of the Eurogroup will take place by a simple majority (at least 10 votes out of 19) on Thursday 9 July among euro area Finance Ministers. The President’s term of office will be 2.5 years.
See the cover letters from: - Mrs Calviño: https://bit.ly/2A1UBED; - Mr Donohoe: https://bit.ly/2NuTJLT; - Mr Gramegna: https://bit.ly/2ViHsyo. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)