Eurozone ministers to review Lagarde successor candidates after 6 November deadline

Deadline set for nominations

Eurozone governments have until Friday, 6 November 2026 to submit candidates to succeed Christine Lagarde as president of the European Central Bank (ECB). In a letter sent on 29 October to European Council president Antonio Costa, Lagarde said she will leave the post on 7 February 2027, about nine months before her term formally ends, and that letter set the succession process in motion. Eurogroup president Kyriakos Pierrakakis asked member states to put forward their candidates by the deadline. Finance ministers of the 21 euro-area countries will consider the proposals at their next meeting on 9 November, and an EU official told Politico that they will also discuss how to fill three vacant seats on the ECB executive board that day. In a statement issued on Tuesday, 3 November, the Eurogroup said:

“The Council of the EU has launched the process for the appointment of the successor to the ECB president.”

Two front-runners

Pablo Hernández de Cos, the former governor of the Bank of Spain who now sits at the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), and Klaas Knot, the former head of the Dutch central bank, are seen as the two leading contenders. Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez has backed Hernández de Cos since September, calling him 'exceptional' and saying he has the leadership ability, skills and knowledge needed to lead the euro area's monetary authority. Dutch prime minister Rob Jetten has come out in favour of Knot, pointing to his pragmatism, his ability to work with different counterparts and his experience running the Dutch central bank through some of the most complex economic periods of recent years. Both candidates have the open support of their governments.

A wider reshuffle on the executive board

The succession is part of a broader change to the ECB's six-member executive board, where three seats are due to change hands. Isabel Schnabel, who is responsible for markets, is set to leave in January, roughly a year before her eight-year term ends, and she is due to take up a post at the International Monetary Fund at that time. Another report puts her departure at the end of 2026. For her replacement, the Eurogroup has extended the deadline for submitting candidates to 27 November. Chief economist Philip Lane's term ends in May 2027, and the search for his successor has already begun.

Timetable ahead

Finance ministers meet on 9 November to discuss the candidates, but the final decision on the new ECB president rests with the European Council, made up of the heads of state and government of EU member countries. Leaders are due to meet in Brussels on 26 and 27 November, when progress on the selection of new ECB leaders, including Lagarde's successor, is expected. An informal meeting of the leaders is planned about two weeks before that.

The timeline below sets out the dates already fixed in the process and the milestones still ahead.