Who will replace Lagarde? Eurozone picks nominees as race for ECB top job begins

Eurozone countries have until Friday to put forward candidates to succeed Christine Lagarde as president of the European Central Bank. The bloc's finance ministers will review the names at a meeting on November 9, a spokesperson for the Europe group told Euronews. A candidate will need the backing of at least 16 of the 21 Eurozone countries, representing at least 65% of the bloc's population. EU leaders then make the final call. Lagarde announced last week that she was cutting her eight-year term short by almost nine months. She said that leaving would give her the freedom to speak out beyond monetary policy. Rumours throughout the year have linked her timing to the elections in France. As an early exit gives French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz a say over who replaces her, while the far-right polls strongly ahead of the April vote. The two names leading the race for the ECB top job are Pablo Hernández de Cos, general manager of the Bank for International Settlements and former governor of the Bank of Spain from 2018 to 2024, and Klaas Knot, who led the Dutch central bank for 14 years until 2025.