In a statement released in Brussels, the Council of the European Union (EU) announced that “two ministers have submitted their candidacies for the presidency of the Eurogroup”: Greece’s Minister of Economy and Finance, Kyriakos Pierrakakis, and Belgium’s Vice-Prime Minister and Minister of Budget, responsible for Administrative Simplification, Vincent Van Peteghem. Both candidates are from the center-right.
The election of the new president is scheduled for the next Eurogroup meeting, set to take place on December 11 in Brussels.
This process follows the recent departure of Paschal Donohoe, who resigned from the position he held since 2020 and was re-elected to recently, in order to become the executive director of the World Bank.
Paschal Donohoe was first elected as Eurogroup president in July 2020 and subsequently re-elected in December 2022 and July 2025.
He succeeded Mário Centeno, who chaired the informal body as Portugal’s Finance Minister from January 2018 to July 2020.
In a statement made in Brussels, Paschal Donohoe described his “opportunity to serve as Eurogroup president” as “one of the greatest honors” of his professional life, recalling challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic, record inflation due to the Ukraine war, and new community priorities.
According to Eurogroup working methods, the informal forum of the single currency is now set to select a new president as swiftly as possible.
Meanwhile, Cyprus’s Finance Minister, Makis Keravnos, will assume the role of interim president of the Eurogroup, given the Cypriot presidency of the EU Council in the first half of 2026.
Any minister responsible for the finances of a eurozone country can be elected Eurogroup president, provided the candidate is a full member of the body at the time of election.
The Eurogroup president chairs meetings, establishes agendas, formulates the long-term work program, and represents the Eurogroup in international settings.
Members of this body elect their president to a two-and-a-half-year term by a simple majority, which requires at least 11 out of 20 votes.
If none of the candidates secures this simple majority by the end of the first round, candidates will have the chance to withdraw their candidacy, with voting continuing until such a majority is achieved.
The Eurogroup is an informal body established in 1997 and consists of the ministers from single currency member states to ensure close coordination of economic policies.
