The body is competing this Monday for the Eurogroup presidency with the finance ministers of Ireland and Lithuania.

The Minister of Economy, Trade and Enterprise, Carlos Cuerpo, will compete this Monday for the presidency of the Eurogroup , the forum of finance ministers of the eurozone , with the Irish 'popular' Paschal Donohoe , who is seeking re-election, and with the Lithuanian socialist Rimantas Sadzius .

Eurozone members will therefore choose between two Socialists and one Conservative to preside over this informal body for the next two and a half years, a period that will be marked by geopolitical and trade tensions and the strengthening of the euro in the face of the increasingly dominant position of the dollar, according to EP.

Sources from the Ministry of Economy indicated last Friday that the Spanish candidacy has been "well received" and "promotes optimism," although the body will have to convince a majority of conservative ministers, including seven members of the European People's Party (EPP) - Belgium, Croatia, Greece, Ireland, Latvia, Luxembourg, and Portugal - the political family to which the current president belongs, as well as two representatives of the far-right governments of Finland and Italy.

Several diplomatic sources have indicated to Europa Press that many member states view Donohoe—who has held the position since 2020—as the favorite, given that he is already guaranteed seven of the eleven votes needed to elect the new Eurogroup president. For the time being, only the Slovak government of Social Democrat Robert Fico has publicly expressed its support for Cuerpo.

The procedure, which requires a simple majority, also provides for several rounds of voting if none of the candidates manages to garner the necessary support from their members in the first round. In fact, since in this case two candidates from the same socialist political family are running, the Ministry has pointed out that the "tradition" is that the candidate who receives the fewest votes in the first round withdraws.

Donohoe already defeated the current president of the European Investment Bank (EIB), Nadia Calviño, in 2020, despite being considered the favorite to succeed Portuguese Mário Centeno.

Previously, in 2015, another Spanish minister, the current Vice President of the European Central Bank (ECB), Luis de Guindos, also lost to the Socialist Jeroem Dijsselbloem .

Although the Spanish candidates lost the Eurogroup presidency, they did find a place in other European institutions, although the Ministry does not fear that the need to ensure a balance of nationality among senior EU officials could jeopardize the Corps' chances.

"Beyond names, political parties, or geographical representation, what we are finding is a strong consensus within the Eurogroup on the importance of giving it a boost," these sources noted, highlighting the "support" that leading this forum of "international relevance" would bring to Spain.

Among its priorities, Cuerpo advocates strengthening the international role of the euro, as well as financial stability and fiscal responsibility, and is convinced that the Eurogroup "can and should be a lever" for advancing the common European project.

These are the same arguments that Spain, along with Germany, France, Italy, and the Netherlands—the five largest EU economies—already defended in a joint document calling for changes to ensure a more prominent role for this forum.

In this regard, diplomatic sources told Europa Press that this proposal "was about substance, not positions," and that its objective was "to contribute constructively to improving the effectiveness of the Eurogroup," so it should not be understood "as an accusation against Donohoe or an endorsement of the Corps."