Mário Centeno to stand for plum European Central Bank job
Portugal’s former central bank governor, Mário Centeno, has officially apply for the post of vice-president of the European Central Bank (ECB).
According to the news sources RTP and ECO, the former Bank of Portugal governor and Finances minister made his application formal today (Friday, January 9).
Mário Centeno’s candidacy comes at a time of a challenging political context in Europe and the world with a need to balance regional interests when it comes to picking the candidate. The former Eurogroup chair of European finance ministers will be up against five candidates.
“Encouraged by European contacts maintained during the period in which I served as Governor of the Bank of Portugal, I expressed to European leaders my willingness to apply for the position of Vice President of the European Central Bank, and have informed the Portuguese Government,” says the former Governor of the Bank of Portugal.
Centeno detailed the reasons for this candidacy, which will have competition from at least five other candidates: “The candidacy, to be made formal tomorrow (Friday, January 9) by the Portuguese Government, is part of my persistent contribution to the deepening of European integration, based on the experience acquired throughout my professional career. After more than three decades at the Bank of Portugal and nearly ten years in representative roles in the European Union, including as President of Eurogroup, the possibility of taking up the position of vice president of the ECB represents a challenge for which I feel motivated and qualified.”
Mário Centeno served as the President of the Eurogroup for a single two-and-a-half-year term rom January 13, 2018, to July 12, 2020. He succeeded Jeroen Dijsselbloem and was followed by Ireland’s Paschal Donohoe, who took office on July 13, 2020.
During this period, he concurrently served as the Chair of the Board of Governors of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM). He announced in June 2020 that he would not seek a second mandate, coinciding with his resignation as Portugal’s Finance Minister. He then went on to become the Governor of the Banco de Portugal, a post he held until 2025 when he was succeeded by economist Álvaro Santos Pereira.
