Greek Finance Minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis and Belgian Budget Minister Vincent Van Peteghem are officially the two candidates for the Eurogroup presidency, the European Council has officially announced.

The two candidates come from the European People’s Party and belong to the same political party, representing essentially the same generation, with Kyriakos Pierrakakis being 42 years old and Vincent Van Peteghem being 45. This is an informal North-South battle, with the two politicians sharing common ideological bases.

The election of the new president will take place at the next Eurogroup meeting on 11 December. The president is elected by a simple majority of Eurogroup ministers, that is, by at least 11 out of 20 votes.

It is noted that if none of the candidates obtains at least this simple majority at the end of the first round of voting, the candidates will then have the opportunity to withdraw their candidature. Voting will continue until a simple majority is obtained for one of the candidates.

As for the Greek finance minister’s opponent, as of February 2025, he took over as budget minister in Bart de Vever’s government, having previously served as finance minister under Alexander de Croix. He even chaired the Council of EU Finance Ministers during the Belgian Presidency in 2024. His candidacy is seen as crucial as Belgium is in negotiations with the European Commission over the use of Russian “frozen” assets in favour of Ukraine.

The Eurogroup statement

Two ministers have submitted their nominations for the Eurogroup presidency:

Kyriakos Pierrakakis, Minister of Economy and Finance of Greece
Vincent Van Peteghem, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for the Budget, responsible for Administrative Simplification, of Belgium

The election of the new president will take place at the next Eurogroup meeting on 11 December. The president is elected by a simple majority of the Eurogroup ministers, in accordance with Protocol 14 of the Eurogroup Treaty, i.e. by at least 11 out of 20 votes.

If none of the candidates obtains at least this simple majority at the end of the first round of voting, the candidates will then have the opportunity to withdraw their application. Voting will continue until a simple majority is obtained for one of the candidates.

Any minister responsible for finance from a euro area member state may be elected president of the Eurogroup. The candidate must be an active member of the Eurogroup at the time of the election. The president is elected for a two and a half year term of office, which may be renewed.

The Eurogroup is an informal body, created in 1997, in which ministers of the euro area member states discuss issues relating to their countries’ shared responsibilities regarding the euro. Its main task is to ensure close coordination of economic policies between euro area Member States. It also aims to promote the conditions for stronger economic growth and is responsible for preparing and monitoring euro summits. It usually meets once a month, on the eve of the Economic and Financial Affairs Council meeting.

The first Eurogroup meeting was held on 4 June 1998 in Luxembourg. The first president of the Eurogroup was Jean-Claude Juncker. He was succeeded by Jerome Daeisblum, Mario Centeno, and Pascal Donahue, who was elected president of the Eurogroup for the first time on 9 July 2020. Mr. Donahire retired from the post of Eurogroup president on 18 November 2025. Since then, Makis Keraynos, Minister of Finance of the Republic of Cyprus, has served as acting Eurogroup President.”