<h6><strong>Eduardo González</strong></h6> <h4><strong>The Minister of Economy, Trade, and Enterprise, Carlos Cuerpo, officially confirmed this Friday his candidacy to chair the Eurogroup, the forum of eurozone finance ministers, a position that, to date, has been a challenge for Spain.</strong></h4> "I am presenting my candidacy to chair the Eurogroup," Carlos Cuerpo wrote on the social media platform X. This decision, he added, represents "a step forward to give renewed impetus to an institution that must play a key role in the European political agenda and achieve tangible results in terms of growth, competitiveness, the welfare state, and integration." The minister will compete against the current president of the Eurogroup, Irishman Paschal Donohoe (EPP), who has held the position since 2020 and is the favorite to win a third consecutive two-and-a-half-year term. The other candidate is Lithuanian Finance Minister Rimantas Sadzius. The candidacy was formally submitted this Friday, the last day of the deadline, and the vote will take place during the next Eurogroup meeting on July 7. The winner must obtain a simple majority, and several rounds of voting are planned if necessary. To win the position, Carlos Cuerpo will have 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 tried twice to win the position. The two previous attempts were made by Luis de Guindos, former Economy Minister under Mariano Rajoy, who tried 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 grant Spain excessive 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.
