The finance ministers of Belgium and Greece have thrown their hats in the ring to lead the Eurogroup panel of their eurozone peers, following the surprise exit of Ireland’s Paschal Donohoe, the body said Friday.
Ministers from the 20-country single currency area will elect the group’s head — choosing between Belgium’s Vincent Van Peteghem and Greece’s Kyriakos Pierrakakis — when they next meet in Brussels on December 11, a Eurogroup statement said.
The 51-year-old Donohoe announced on November 20 that he was stepping down from both his government and Eurogroup roles to join the World Bank as managing director.
The move came as a surprise as Donohoe had only been re-elected in July for a two-and-a-half-year term at the helm of the informal Eurogroup, a post he had held since 2020.
The Eurogroup chief carries weight in policy-making, and Donohue counted among influential voices in Brussels, alongside EU chief Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa.
Finance ministers from the 20 countries sharing the single currency had until Friday to submit their candidacies for the job.
Until Donohue’s successor is chosen, Cyprus’s Makis Keravnos is serving as interim president.
(aw)
