Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe said he is “grateful for the strong level of support” he is receiving from other capitals, to stay on as president of the Eurogroup for a third term.
Finance ministers from the 20 euro zone countries have until June 27th to put their name forward to challenge Mr Donohoe for the position.
So far Mr Donohoe is the only minister to announce his candidacy, however it is understood Spanish economy minister Carlos Cuerpo has been mulling a run.
The Eurogroup brings together the finance ministers from the 20 euro zone countries to co-ordinate economic policy.
Speaking on his way into a Eurogroup meeting in Luxembourg, Mr Donohoe said he had received a lot of backing to continue in the role. “I very much welcome the strong level of support that I am getting from many colleagues at the moment”, he said on Thursday.
A vote to elect the president will take place at the next Eurogroup meeting on July 9th, if another minister stands against Mr Donohoe. The president, who chairs the meetings, holds the role for two-and-a half years.
Mr Donohoe was first elected to the influential role in 2020, beating candidates from Spain and Luxembourg. He was re-elected unopposed in 2022 for a second term.
The Fine Gael minister has been quietly shoring up support for a third term over recent weeks and months, canvassing his finance counterparts on the phone and in person.
Mr Cuerpo, a member of Pedro Sánchez’s leftwing government in Spain, is seen as the most likely challenger. The Spanish minister has not ruled out a bid for the Eurogroup presidency. Lithuanian finance minister Rimantas Šadžius is also thought to be considering putting his name forward.
Mr Donohoe would seek to draw on the support of other centre-right governments, in a head-to-head contest with Mr Cuerpo. The EPP (European People’s Party), which includes six finance ministers from Luxembourg, Belgium, Greece, Portugal , Latvia and Ireland, has already expressed its support for him.
The Fine Gael TD is understood to have secured support from several other ministers. He will need 11 votes in total to be re-elected.
The EPP (European People’s Party), which includes six finance ministers from Luxembourg, Belgium, Greece, Portugal , Latvia and Ireland, has already expressed its support for him.
The Fine Gael TD is understood to have secured support from several other ministers.
Mr Donohoe was – at one point - tipped to take over from Kristalina Georgieva as head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) but she was reappointed to serve a second term last October.
The process for the election was formally laid out to ministers at the meeting in Luxembourg on Thursday. Candidates have a little over a week to put their name forward.
For a period Ireland had two ministers attending Eurogroup meetings, when Mr Donohoe was minister for public expenditure during the previous coalition government.
Ireland had to secure a workaround to the tradition that the chair of the group is usually a finance minister, given the finance job was rotated between Mr Donohoe and Michael McGrath in the last coalition.
An agreement was made that Mr Donohoe would attend the meetings solely in his capacity as Eurogroup president, with then-minister for finance Mr McGrath in the room to represent Ireland.
Former Luxembourg prime minister and European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker was the longest serving Eurogroup chair, holding the role from 2005 to 2013.
