Dutch, Spanish candidates will vie to succeed ECB’s Lagarde

Former Dutch central bank chief Klaas Knot and Spain’s Pablo Hernandez de Cos will go head to head to replace ECB chief Christine Lagarde after being officially named as candidates on Friday.

Knot and Hernandez de Cos, currently head of the Bank for International Settlements, were seen as the frontrunners even before the list was published by the head of the euro area grouping of finance ministers, Kyriakos Pierrakakis.

Lagarde last month announced she would step down in February, months before her term ends, triggering the race to succeed her.

EU leaders will appoint Lagarde’s replacement based on a recommendation by euro area finance ministers, who meet regularly in a format known as the eurogroup.

The ministers will discuss Lagarde’s replacement on Monday, but at this stage, there is no expectation that they will recommend a single candidate.

A senior EU official said this week “if an agreement emerges soon, we’re talking about days rather than weeks, then the (ministers) could issue a formal recommendation already within this month”.

The official said the aim is an agreement by the bloc’s leaders at their December 17-18 meeting.

“Preferably we would have this done and dusted in December.”

Other top ECB officials are due to be replaced: executive board member Isabel Schnabel and chief economist Philip Lane, with frantic negotiations expected.

The expectation is that the leaders agree on a package deal on all three including Lagarde’s replacement.