Christine Lagarde, the EU central bank chief, formally informed the European Council on October 29 that she would resign from her position at the helm of the ECB by Feb. 7, 2027. The Eurogroup has already announced that two official candidacies were submitted by member states ahead of the deadline.
The two nominees in the race are former Bank of Spain Governor Pablo Hernández de Cos and Dutch central bank chief Klaas Knot.
Finance ministers from the euro area are scheduled to take stock of the two candidacies at their upcoming Eurogroup meeting on Nov. 9.
The next ECB president will be appointed by the European Council on a recommendation from the prime ministers of the member states through a reinforced qualified majority.
The voting threshold requires the support of at least 72% of euro area member states representing at least 65% of the eurozone’s population.
Both the European Central Bank and the European Parliament will be formally consulted before EU leaders finalize the appointment, according to the Eurogroup.
