11
Madrid: Spain on Friday formally nominated Pablo Hernández de Cos, former Governor of the Bank of Spain, as its candidate to succeed Christine Lagarde as President of the European Central Bank (ECB), according to a letter from the Spanish government.
In a letter to Eurogroup President Kyriakos Pierrakakis, Spain’s Deputy Prime Minister and Economy Minister Carlos Cuerpo expressed confidence that Hernández de Cos would bring to the ECB the same steady and inspiring leadership he showed as head of the Bank of Spain from 2018 to 2024.
Hernández de Cos, currently General Manager of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), is widely regarded as one of the leading contenders for the post. The Netherlands on the same day nominated its former central bank chief, Klaas Knot, setting up a contest between two seasoned central bankers for Europe’s most powerful financial role, which the new president is due to assume from February.
Cuerpo said that, with nearly three decades of experience in central banking, Hernández de Cos brings deep knowledge of economic, fiscal and monetary policy along with broad expertise in international banking and financial stability. During his time as Bank of Spain Governor, he also chaired the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision and the Advisory Technical Committee of the European Systemic Risk Board, earning a reputation for technical rigour and consensus-building. Cuerpo added that the nominee had demonstrated his independence, firm commitment to the ECB’s mandate and an ability to communicate clearly with markets.
Euro zone governments faced a Friday deadline to submit their candidates, and finance ministers will review the nominations at the Eurogroup meeting on Monday, November 9. The final choice may still take several weeks before EU leaders settle on a preferred candidate.
The leadership change comes at a sensitive time for the ECB, which is raising interest rates to tackle inflation while concerns over debt sustainability, particularly in France, have raised the prospect of market intervention. The bank will also lose two other key Executive Board members in the coming months, with Isabel Schnabel departing on January 3 and Chief Economist Philip Lane leaving on May 31.
Analysts do not expect either candidate to bring a sharp shift in policy, though Knot is generally seen as slightly more hawkish and Hernández de Cos as slightly more dovish. The outcome may also be shaped by which countries secure other senior ECB posts, as well as concerns over gender balance, since the only two women on the 27-member Governing Council, Lagarde and Schnabel, are both stepping down.
Spain currently has no representative on the ECB’s Executive Board, following the end of Luis de Guindos’s term as Vice-President earlier this year.
