The Netherlands and Spain nominated former Dutch central bank chief Klaas Knot and Bank for International Settlements General Manager Pablo Hernández de Cos to succeed Christine Lagarde as ECB president. Euro zone finance ministers will review the candidates on November 9.
The Netherlands nominated former central bank chief Klaas Knot, while Spain nominated Pablo Hernández de Cos, General Manager of the Bank for International Settlements, to succeed Christine Lagarde as ECB president. Eurogroup President Kyriakos Pierrakakis said ministers would take stock of the candidacies at their November 9 meeting; EU leaders may take weeks to choose a candidate.
The next president will inherit an ECB raising interest rates to combat inflation, alongside concerns about debt sustainability and possible bond-market turbulence. ECB watchers do not expect either candidate to fundamentally alter policy in the near term. A Jefferies analyst described Knot as slightly more hawkish and de Cos as slightly more dovish, while saying the policy differences should not be overplayed.
The ECB will also lose board members Isabel Schnabel on January 3 and chief economist Philip Lane on May 31. Gender balance could complicate the selection: Lagarde and Schnabel are the only women on the 27-member Governing Council, and both are leaving. France and Germany's preferences for other senior ECB roles could affect the presidential race.
