The deadline for eurozone finance ministers to present candidates to replace Isabel Schnabel on the ECB's executive board expires on Wednesday, 28 October 2026. The aim is to have a formal list of potential candidates so that the election can be held at the November meeting.
Schnabel will leave her post on 3 January 2027 to join the IMF as financial counsellor and director of its monetary and capital markets area. Her term was due to end in late 2027, and her early exit has intensified the contest for the ECB's top positions, including the presidency held by Christine Lagarde.
GERMANY AND FRANCE FLOAT CANDIDATES
For Germany, going for Schnabel's seat means ruling out Joachim Nagel as a candidate to lead the ECB, as his name has lost momentum in recent months. Fritzi Köhler Geib, a counsellor of the Bundesbank, is among the favourites, alongside Sabine Mauderer and the economist Ulrike Malmendier, who are also German.
Tobias Adrian, whom Schnabel will replace at the IMF, is also on the list. On the French side, names under discussion include Agnès Bénassy-Quéré, deputy governor of the Bank of France, and Laurence Boon, chief economist of the OECD.
SPAIN AND THE NETHERLANDS VIE FOR PRESIDENCY
Spain has never held the post, unlike neighbours such as Italy, France, Portugal or the Netherlands. De Cos is competing against Klaas Knot of the Netherlands, who is known for a more restrictive view of monetary policy, described in the jargon as hawkish.
LAGARDE'S TIMING REMAINS UNSETTLED
The race began months ago with the search for a vice president to succeed Luis de Guindos, a role taken over by Croatia's Boris Vujcic. Chief Economist Philip Lane will leave in 2027, and Lagarde may depart early to lead the World Economic Forum within the coming weeks.
Reuters reported, citing four people close to the organisation, that the World Economic Forum could appoint Lagarde as its next chair as soon as November, which would mean she steps down early and triggers a wider reshuffle at the top of the ECB. A fifth person said her wish to give Macron a say on her successor was one factor in the timing. The forum's board is co-chaired by BlackRock Chief Executive Larry Fink and Roche Vice Chairman Andre Hoffmann, who took over after founder Klaus Schwab stepped down last year.
Lagarde's term is scheduled to end in October 2027. In a September 2026 interview she said: "I will leave in 2027."
ETHICS RULING AND POLITICAL BACKDROP
The ECB's Ethics Committee ruled that Schnabel needs no cooling-off period before joining the IMF, and she will not handle IMF-related matters for the remainder of her term.
The transition comes as Germany, regarded as the eurozone's engine, faces a government crisis after several state election defeats. France is on the edge of a debt crisis, made worse by political stagnation ahead of next spring's presidential elections.
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