Ireland, Lithuania and Spain: Who will lead the Eurogroup next?

Ireland, Lithuania and Spain are vying for activity of nan Eurogroup connected Monday, which chairs nan monthly meetings of nan 20 eurozone finance ministers and plays a cardinal domiciled successful coordinating and influencing nan Council’s economical argumentation decisions. 

Over nan past 2 decades, nan Eurogroup has had only 4 imperishable presidents: Luxembourg’s Jean-Claude Juncker (2005–2013), nan Netherlands’ Jeroen Dijsselbloem (2013–2018), Portugal’s Mário Centeno (2018–2020), and Ireland’s Paschal Donohoe. 

Since 2020, nan position has been held by Donohoe, a personnel of nan influential European People’s Party (EPP). But for his imaginable 3rd term, nan Irishman is being challenged by nan socialist finance ministers of Spain and Lithuania, Carlos Cuerpo and Rimantas Šadžius, who are offering an replacement imagination for nan adjacent 2 and a half years. 

The ballot connected Monday will beryllium held successful secret. To win, a campaigner must unafraid astatine slightest eleven retired of 20 votes. 

Cuerpo offers a ‘renewed’ and eager agenda

The Spanish contender, Carlos Cuerpo, is an economist pinch a PhD and erstwhile acquisition astatine nan European Commission and Spain’s fiscal watchdog, AIReF. He has served arsenic Spain’s finance curate since precocious 2023, erstwhile he succeeded Nadia Calviño, who now leads nan Luxembourg-based European Investment Bank. 

Cuerpo is not nan first Spaniard to activity activity of this informal group. Calviño ran against Donohoe successful 2022, and Luis de Guindos—now Vice President of nan European Central Bank—also tried to unafraid nan domiciled during his clip arsenic system curate nether a Spanish Popular Party government. 

In his information missive to chap ministers, Cuerpo laid retired an “ambitious” and renewed schedule aimed astatine strengthening nan eurozone’s semipermanent growth, completing nan superior markets union, boosting nan world domiciled of nan euro, and finalizing nan banking union. 

“The clip has travel to move from chat to delivery. The credibility of our corporate task depends not connected what we say, but connected what we achieve—together, and without delay,” Cuerpo wrote. 

Earlier this month, Spain—along pinch Germany, France, and Italy—presented a chat insubstantial arguing that though nan Eurogroup has been effective during crises, it has often lacked decisiveness successful different areas, peculiarly successful advancing nan superior markets union. 

As a Spanish socialist, nan 44-year-old finance curate has besides supported issuing caller communal indebtedness to fortify Europe’s defence capabilities. He has called for doubling nan EU’s adjacent semipermanent budget—from 1% of nan bloc’s GDP—to money some accepted priorities, specified arsenic agriculture and cohesion, and caller ones, including security, defence, and nan greenish and integer transitions. 

Several negotiated sources propose nan existent title is betwixt Cuerpo and Donohoe. However, Cuerpo’s governmental family is successful nan number wrong nan Eurogroup, and his much transformative proposals whitethorn look guidance from fiscally blimpish countries for illustration Germany and nan Netherlands. 

Paschal Donohoe: ‘predictability’ successful times of crisis

Amid soaring waste and acquisition tensions and a warfare connected nan EU’s borders, Paschal Donohoe tells his 19 finance peers successful a missive seeking their support that nan world system is astatine “a pivotal juncture”. 

Despite each nan challenges, nan Irishman argues that nan Eurogroup remains a root of predictability, stableness and transparency. He besides praised nan achievements of caller years nether his leadership, while informing that much activity is needed. 

"The changing outer situation gives america nan impetus and imperative to advancement connected long-standing issues and present connected our shared priorities," he said, promising to stay an honorable agent successful nan group’s negotiations. 

If he is re-elected, he plans to deepen nan European superior markets, make advancement connected nan integer euro, beforehand greater dynamism successful integration, and proceed to put successful information cooperation. 

“An atrocious batch tin hap successful a number of weeks successful nan world that we're in, but I americium encouraged by nan support I've presently received,” nan Irish finance curate told Euronews successful a caller interview.  

Šadžius calls for a little concentrated superior markets union

In nan title for nan presidency of nan Eurogroup, Rimantas Šadžius is nan chaotic card. Despite being a highly knowledgeable finance curate from Lithuania, he faces 2 main disadvantages: he belongs to nan socialist governmental family—meaning he competes for nan aforesaid excavation of votes arsenic Carlos Cuerpo—and he is seeking nan backing of smaller countries, a constituency Paschal Donohoe has agelong cultivated.

Šadžius has served arsenic a personnel of nan Luxembourg-based European Court of Auditors, and has played a starring domiciled successful Lithuania's accession to nan eurozone since 2015.

He besides chaired ECOFIN during Lithuania’s presidency of nan Council of nan EU successful 2013, a play marked by cardinal decisions connected nan creation of nan Banking Union.

Diplomatic sources propose Šadžius could pull support from EU personnel states closest to Russia’s border, but he is not expected to summation capable votes to triumph nan race.

In his missive to chap ministers, nan Lithuanian campaigner pledges to beforehand deeper integration of personnel states into nan euro area, debar overlaps pinch nan European Council’s agenda, guarantee fiscal sustainability, and accelerate nan rollout of nan integer euro.

Like his rivals, Šadžius commits to completing some nan banking national and nan superior markets union. However, he stresses nan request to reside nan truth that nan second remains “heterogeneous and much concentrated successful Western and Northern Europe.”