MNI: Belgian Emerges As Early Eurogroup Favourite

Belgian Deputy Finance Minister Vincent van Peteghem has emerged as a strong early favourite to take on the role of Eurogroup chair, following the surprise departure of Ireland’s Paschal Donohoe to become MD of the World Bank, officials told MNI.

The centre-right European People’s Party, to which both Donohoe and Peteghem belong, will be keen to preserve its grip on the role, one source said.

Peteghem was mooted as candidate for the role in July and while viewed as a potentially strong challenger, he decided to withdraw to allow Donohoe to have a clear run at a second term in the job. 

Peteghem chaired European Union finance ministers' meetings during Belgium's 2024 EU presidency where he brokered the final deal on the bloc’s new fiscal rules in February last year.    

While Spanish Finance Minister Carlos Cuerpo also ran in July, his badly choreographed campaign for the job may make him shy of trying again so soon, sources said. 

Acting-Eurogroup chief and Cypriot Finance Minister Makis Keravnos is likely to want to organise a quick selection procedure, given that it is his country's turn to run the EU presidency in the first half of 2026, they said.

Others so far mooted for the role include Greek Finance Minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis, who has made a good impression on his European colleagues, but he has only been in the role eight months and, as a member of a centre-right party, may not want to split the EPP vote. (See MNI INTERVIEW: Poland Says One-Year ETS2 Delay Not Enough)

Current talk is that the Cypriot finance minister might even aim for an election at the Dec 11 Eurogroup meeting. The elections take place on a simple majority basis with all eurozone finance ministers having one vote, with a call for candidates likely to take place in the coming weeks.

The same meeting is due to kick off the search for a new vice president for the ECB, with the current VP Luis de Guindos due to leave the central bank later this year.