Carlos Body renounces his candidacy to preside over the Eurogroup

The Minister of Economy, Commerce and Business, Carlos Body, has resigned from presenting his candidacy to replace the Irishman Paschal Donohoe in the presidency of the Eurogroup, as reported this Friday by sources from the Ministry of Economy.

“Spain will continue working to ensure a significant and influential presence in the main European economic and financial institutions, ensuring that our voice contributes to building a stronger Europe and cohesive”, assure the same sources.

The resignation is framed in a context in which Spain would prefer to have more possibilities of maintain a position at the European Central Bank (ECB), once the term of the current vice president ends, Luis de Guindoson May 31, 2026.

Corps had challenged Donohoe for the position last July, but in the end both he and former Lithuanian Finance Minister Rimantas Sadzius ended up withdrawing from the race on election day. lack of sufficient supportwhich cleared the way for the Irishman’s consensus nomination.

Although his third term should have ended in January 2028, he unexpectedly resigned from the leadership of the Eurogroup, as well as from his country’s Finance portfolio, on November 18 to assume the position of Managing Director and Chief Knowledge Officer of the World Bankwhich launched a new election process against the clock.

The deadline for submitting applications concludes this Friday at 5:30 p.m. and the election will be held at the next Eurogroup meeting, on December 11.

To be nominated, applicants will have to achieve the support from eleven of the twenty countries of the single currency in a secret vote in which geographical balance and between political families traditionally weigh.

The Ministry of Economy assures that, despite not presenting a candidacy, Spain maintains a firm commitment to strengthening the Eurogroup “as a driver of authentic economic integration“, an essential condition for Europe to resist global uncertainty and prosper.

As proof of that commitment, the ministry points to the European Competitiveness Laboratory, launched in March at the Corps’ proposal, an initiative that allows groups of States experiment with innovative policies that accelerate integration from below, in the format of coalitions of willing countries.