Succession de Christine Lagarde à la tête de la BCE : Paris pourrait soutenir Pablo Hernandez de Cos face à Klaas Knot dans la course à la présidence

The race for the position of successor to European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde has begun, with two main contenders: Dutchman Klaas Knot and Spaniard Pablo Hernández de Cos. Both were nominated as potential replacements for the ECB presidency. The Eurogroup meeting on Monday is expected to review the nominations.

Pablo Hernández de Cos has been serving as the president of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) since July 2025, previously holding the same position at the Spanish Central Bank from 2018 to 2024 and being a member of the ECB's executive board. He is known for advocating for a relatively loose monetary policy with lower interest rates. Hernández de Cos holds degrees in economics, business administration, and law from the University of Madrid.

Dutchman Klaas Knot, on the other hand, has been the president of the Dutch Central Bank since July 2011. He is known for his strict monetary policy approach and has been a critic of the ECB's relatively loose monetary policy in the past. Knot has also served as a member of the Financial Stability Board (FSB) and as a member of the Dutch Finance Ministry's supervisory board. He holds degrees in economics from the University of Groningen and has worked at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in the past.

The race for the ECB presidency has attracted attention from other European countries as well, with Germany being the largest economy in Europe and not having had an ECB president until now. However, Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) and Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil (SPD) are also considering running for the position. Meanwhile, Joachim Nagel, who has been leading the Bundesbank since January 2022, has not been nominated for the ECB presidency.