Spain backs Hernández de Cos as possible successor to Lagarde at the ECB

Madrid — The Minister of Economy, Trade and Enterprise, Carlos Cuerpo, stated this Wednesday that Spain will seek to maintain a “significant representation” in the European Central Bank (ECB) and indicated that the former governor of the Bank of Spain Pablo Hernández de Cos is an “excellent professional” with a career that is “more than proven”, when asked whether he would be a good candidate to succeed Christine Lagarde at the head of the pan-European issuing institution.

“Spain […] will push to maintain a significant representation, as corresponds to us, both because of our shareholding quota and because of the importance of the Spanish economy in the eurozone, and, in this case, in due course, we will make the decision both about the position and about the candidacies,” he declared during the press conference following the Council of Ministers on the succession of Lagarde and other positions at the European Central Bank.

Cuerpo assured that Spain “will not lack excellent candidates” to join or lead international organizations. In this regard, the minister acknowledged that he holds Hernández de Cos “in the highest esteem”, stating that he is an “excellent professional with a career that is “more than proven” and enjoys the “recognition of his peers”.

Hernández de Cos is currently general manager of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), although a survey published this Tuesday by the ‘Financial Times’ placed him as the favorite to lead the ECB in the opinion of 26% of the economists consulted.

Thus, the Spaniard came ahead of the former governor of the Bank of the Netherlands, Klaas Knot, who had the support of 24%, but also surpassed the president of the Bundesbank, Joachim Nagel, and the member of the ECB Governing Council Isabel Schnabel, who were backed by 14% and 7% of those surveyed, respectively. (January 7)