<h6><strong>The Diplomat</strong></h6> <h4><strong>The Minister of Economy, Trade, and Enterprise, Carlos Cuerpo, withdrew his candidacy for the Eurogroup presidency this Monday due to lack of support, according to sources from the Ministry who informed the media.</strong></h4> The Eurogroup, the forum of eurozone finance ministers, will vote this Monday on the person who will preside over this body for a period of two and a half years. Ultimately, the Spanish minister opted to withdraw his candidacy after "two days" of trying to gather support among the different countries and realizing that it would be impossible for him to achieve the necessary majority. The aforementioned sources described his decision to withdraw as "an exercise of responsibility." With Cuerpo's withdrawal, the path is clear for the current Eurogroup president, Irishman Paschal Donohoe (EPP), who has held the position since 2020 and was already the favorite to win a third consecutive two-and-a-half-year term. The winner must obtain a simple majority. To obtain the position, Carlos Cuerpo had to convince his counterparts from the 20 Eurogroup member states, nine of which belong to the European People's Party (EPP) and two others to far-right governments in Finland and Italy. Spain has already attempted to win the position twice. The two previous attempts were made by Luis de Guindos, former Economy Minister under Mariano Rajoy, in 2015, and by Nadia Calviño, Pedro Sánchez's first female Minister of Economic Affairs, who also failed in 2020, precisely to Donohoe. In return, de Guindos is the current Vice President of the European Central Bank (ECB), and Nadia Calviño is President of the European Investment Bank (EIB). Specifically, one of the main obstacles to the Cuerpo candidacy could be the presence of Calviño at the EIB and De Guindos at the ECB, in addition to José Manuel Campa as president of the European Banking Authority, since their appointment would have given Spain too much influence in the EU's financial and economic institutions, which might not be welcomed by the rest of the countries. The Eurogroup presidency does not grant executive power, decision-making capacity, or a casting vote, but it does allow for control of the agenda and influence in debates and the search for consensus.
