Joachim Nagel: The current Bundesbank president is a more emollient figure, but has clashed more than once with Chancellor Friedrich Merz, most recently on the thorny issue of allowing the EU to issue more joint debt.
A member of the Social Democratic Party, Merz’s junior partner in Berlin, Nagel may also be more useful to Merz in keeping the SPD onside in the debate over domestic policy than he would be across town at ECB headquarters.
Jörg Kukies: Having been finance minister under Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Kukies has all the political connections he might need to secure the job. Although an SPD member like Nagel, Kukies’ politics are highly pragmatic and are unlikely to prevent Merz from supporting him.
Isabel Schnabel, the ECB’s current head of markets is keen on the position and has recently developed a conspicuous penchant for upbeat, big-picture takes on Europe’s future.
And, like ex-ECB President Mario Draghi before him, financial markets will like the fact that he also spent years at Goldman Sachs
Who’s the fall-back option?
International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva has a decent resume but lacks the direct political patronage at the head-of-government level that would normally be needed to land the role.
However, at least her native country, Bulgaria, is now actually part of the eurozone, and no one should rule out the possibility of someone thinking of her after 16 hours of rancorous haggling in Brussels.
