On Monday 3 October in Luxembourg, euro area finance ministers once again failed to find a successor to Klaus Regling as head of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), the euro area’s permanent rescue fund.
The President of the Eurogroup, Paschal Donohoe, indicated that he would convene a meeting of the ESM Board by video conference “on Thursday 6 October”, the day before the end of Mr Regling’s term, in order to see whether there have been any developments by then.
Failing that, the Deputy Managing Director, Christophe Frankel, would take over the interim management of the ESM.
No new candidate has yet been officially named since the two remaining candidates - Luxembourg’s Pierre Gramegna and Portugal’s João Leão - have dropped out. Neither of the two former finance ministers was able to obtain the necessary 80% super-majority of votes (see EUROPE 13025/27). (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)