Greek Finance Minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis has emerged as a frontrunner to lead the Eurogroup, with Germany’s Handelsblatt reporting that he has "good chances" of winning Thursday’s election—a potential victory that would mark a stunning symbolic turnaround for Greece a decade after its debt crisis.
Eurozone finance ministers will vote Thursday to elect the next head of the influential body that shapes the bloc’s fiscal policy.
A Greek victory would have been "unthinkable" ten years ago, Handelsblatt noted, contrasting Mr. Pierrakakis’s technocratic approach with the combative style of crisis-era minister Yanis Varoufakis.
Mr. Pierrakakis, 42, faces stiff competition from Belgium’s Vincent Van Peteghem, 45, who holds a seniority advantage with five years of Eurogroup service compared to Mr. Pierrakakis’s nine months.
However, the Greek minister brings an economic record that "many of his counterparts would envy," the German outlet reported. Greece was one of only six EU states to post a budget surplus in 2024, and it has slashed its debt-to-GDP ratio by 62 percentage points since 2020. The country now borrows at lower rates than France or Italy.
Mr. Pierrakakis’s platform focuses on deepening financial integration, completing the EU Single Market, and developing a digital euro.
His candidacy is bolstered by his past success as digital governance minister, where he revolutionized Greek public services with the gov.gr platform.
"Electing a Greek president would send a strong message about political convergence," said Eleni Lazarou of the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy.