Madrid and The Hague are in touch: Apparently a duel for Lagarde's successor at the ECB

ECB boss Lagarde has announced her resignation. The euro countries want to fill the position as quickly as possible. A preliminary decision could be made as early as mid-December. It will most likely be part of a further package that includes personal details.

In the race to succeed outgoing ECB President Christine Lagarde, a decision will be made between applicants from Spain and the Netherlands. The government in Madrid nominated its candidate Pablo Hernandez de Cos in a letter to the chairman of the Eurogroup, Kyriakos Pierrakakis. De Cos is general director of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) in Basel and formerly headed the Spanish central bank. Spain's Deputy Prime Minister Carlos Cuerpo praised De Cos as a candidate with a "prudent hand and inspiring leadership." With Klaas Knot, the Netherlands is also sending a former central bank chief who has a lot of experience in monetary policy. This amounts to a duel between these two candidates - a personnel duel that has been speculated about for a long time.

A German has never held the top position at the European Central Bank, which is based in Frankfurt. However, Germany, as the largest economy in the euro area, is likely to have a say in filling vacant positions on the ECB's board of directors. In addition, Ursula von der Leyen is currently a German Commission President and Berlin already occupies one of the two top positions in Europe.

In the European discussions over the next few weeks and months, there will be many opportunities to set up "a tableau," said government spokesman Stefan Kornelius in Berlin: "And the federal government will take part in that," he added. Incumbent Lagarde will resign from office early at the beginning of February. The finance ministers of the euro countries want to review the candidacies to succeed the Frenchwoman at a meeting on Monday. The next ECB President will be appointed by the EU countries based on a recommendation from the Euro states. According to insiders, the decision will be made at the summit on December 17th and 18th.

Lagarde's withdrawal offers European heads of state and government the opportunity to decide on the successor at the top of the ECB before the election in France in the spring. In addition, this paves the way for a package solution that also includes management positions that will become vacant next year - such as the successor to the German ECB director Isabel Schnabel, who will move to the International Monetary Fund at the beginning of January 2027. The position of chief economist will also become vacant in 2027, so an overall solution is obvious. Irishman Philip Lane's term as ECB chief economist ends on May 31st. With Jürgen Stark (2006 to 2011) and Otmar Issing (1998 to 2006), Germany has already occupied this influential position twice in the history of the ECB, which was founded in June 1998.