EU leaders aim to appoint new ECB chief in December, official says

By Jan Strupczewski

BRUSSELS, Nov 4 (Reuters) - European Union leaders aim to appoint a successor to European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde, who is stepping down early, at their December 17 to 18 summit, a senior euro zone official said on Wednesday.

Lagarde announced last week she would step down on February 7, 2027, months ahead of the formal end of her mandate. EU leaders will appoint her replacement once finance ministers make a formal recommendation from among submitted candidates and after consulting the ECB and the European Parliament.

Aiming for the December EU summit does not leave a lot of time to complete all the formal steps, especially given that the European Parliament, even though it does not have a veto right on ECB board candidates, has to adopt its view on the proposed person at a plenary session. There is one such plenary session on November 23 to 28 in Strasbourg and more in December.

"The aim is to find a formal agreement on the appointments in December at the European Council," the senior official, involved in the preparations of the decision, said.

DEADLINE FOR CANDIDATES LOOMS

Euro zone governments are to put forward their candidates to replace Lagarde by Friday, November 6, and euro zone finance ministers will take stock of the process at their regular meeting on Monday, November 9.

The Netherlands has already announced it would propose its former central bank governor, Klaas Knot, and Spain is likely to put forward the head of the Bank for International Settlements, Pablo Hernandez de Cos.

There are no plans to issue a recommendation for a single candidate on Monday, the senior official said, adding this could change if a political agreement on a single candidate emerges among EU leaders in the coming days.

The political agreement is also likely to include a deal on who should replace two other members of the central bank's Executive Board: the head of the ECB's market operations, Isabel Schnabel, who leaves on January 3, 2027, and Chief Economist Philip Lane, whose term ends in May 2027.

"So if an agreement emerges soon, we're talking about days rather than weeks, then the council (of EU finance ministers) could issue a formal recommendation already within this month," the official said.

FALLBACK IN JANUARY

The official said that if all the formal steps take longer, the new ECB head could still be appointed in January, when parliament holds another plenary week and leaders could formalise the decision without meeting in person. 

"But preferably we would have this done and dusted in December," the official said.

(Reporting by Jan Strupczewski; Editing by Xevi Fontdegloria)