France has signalled that it may support Spain’s nominee, Pablo Hernández de Cos, to succeed Christine Lagarde as president of the European Central Bank, the Financial Times reported on Thursday 12 November 2026, citing four people with knowledge of the matter. Reuters, reporting the Financial Times account, said it could not immediately verify the report, and no formal decision has been announced.

The report is consistent with separate reporting by Le Monde on 10 November, which said it had learned that the Élysée plans to back the Spanish candidate, and a chief economist chosen by Berlin. Le Monde also reported that French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz discussed the matter over the weekend of 7 and 8 November, and that Berlin’s position was not yet fully settled. The Dutch candidate, Klaas Knot, has not been received at the Élysée, according to the same report.

A two-candidate race

Only two candidates have been put forward for the presidency. Spain nominated Mr Hernández de Cos, the general manager of the Bank for International Settlements, who ran the Bank of Spain from 2018 to 2024 and has headed the Basel-based institution since July 2025. The Netherlands nominated Klaas Knot, its former central bank chief. Mr Hernández de Cos is described as a pragmatic economist and a moderate dove, while Mr Knot has a more hawkish reputation, although people familiar with both men stress that each is keen to build consensus among policymakers.

Ms Lagarde announced in late October that she will step down as ECB president on 7 February 2027, nine months before the end of her eight-year term. Eurozone leaders are set to pick her replacement, along with two other key board members, in the coming months. Isabel Schnabel, who heads market operations, is leaving early in January, and Chief Economist Philip Lane’s term ends at the end of May 2027. Officials want the whole set of appointments settled by December, before Ms Schnabel leaves and Ms Lagarde departs in February.

Ministers fail to agree

Eurozone finance ministers held their first formal discussion of the succession on Monday 9 November in Brussels and reached no agreement. The meeting entered what Le Monde called a crucial phase, with all eyes on how the major countries would position themselves. France did not put forward a candidate for the presidency and is instead pursuing the chief economist role, with names including Agnès Bénassy-Quéré and Laurence Boone under discussion in Paris.

A candidate for the presidency needs the support of at least 16 of the 21 euro-area countries, representing at least 65% of the euro area’s population, after consultation with the European Parliament and the ECB. That threshold makes French backing significant: with France behind him, Mr Hernández de Cos would be closer to a qualified majority, while Mr Knot would need to win over southern capitals that have so far leaned towards the Spanish candidate.

A package of four jobs

The contest is about more than the presidency. Three board departures are expected in the first half of 2027, and a fourth is possible depending on who becomes president. The ECB has asked EU leaders to start choosing a successor to Mr Lane as chief economist, opening another vacancy on top of Ms Lagarde’s exit. France, Germany and Spain all have a stake in how the posts are shared out, and the outcome will shape the balance between northern and southern Europe at the top of the bank.

A win for Mr Hernández de Cos could leave the supervisory and market-operations posts to be divided among the other large states, while a win for Mr Knot would probably put France in line for the chief economist job, which Paris reportedly wants. Germany has promised a German candidate for Ms Schnabel’s seat. EU leaders meet three times before the end of the year, and the decision is expected before then, although observers warn that new names could still emerge at the last minute, as happened when Ms Lagarde herself was nominated unexpectedly in 2019.

For now, the French signal reported on Thursday is the clearest indication yet of where Paris stands, even though it remains unconfirmed by the French government and unverified by Reuters. If it holds, the race to lead the eurozone’s central bank has a frontrunner. If it does not, the ministers will return to Brussels with the same two names and the same arithmetic to resolve. Reuters and Le Monde reported the succession race.