By Jorge Valero and Kamil Kowalcze | Updated on Oct 08, 2026 at 03:31 PM
Nominations to succeed European Central Bank official Isabel Schnabel must be submitted by the end of the month, people familiar with the matter said.
Euro-zone finance ministers agreed on a timetable to fill the German’s vacancy that envisages a deadline for applications on Oct. 28 and an agreement on a candidate possible as soon as Nov. 9, the people said, declining to be identified because discussions on the matter are confidential.
That schedule sketched out in Luxembourg on Thursday doesn’t touch on the possibility of a successor to ECB President Christine Lagarde also being agreed upon.
The Greek premier recently predicted a prospective “ grand bargain ” on that job along with two other impending ECB positions. Schnabel’s exit in January coincides with the speculated early departure of Lagarde and the end of Chief Economist Philip Lane’s term in May.
A spokesperson for the Eurogroup of finance ministers didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
The ECB president has given numerous hints about leaving prematurely, most recently in an interview with a French newspaper last week where she aired the possibility of quitting “ a few months ” before her stint concludes next October.
Schnabel’s shift to the International Monetary Fund has created an impetus for decision-making among governments. While Italian Finance Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti last Friday called on Lagarde to clarify her plans, the central banker has offered no further clues on how long she intends to stay on.
Since Schnabel is from Europe’s biggest economy, her exit essentially puts the ball in Berlin’s court to propose a successor and keep that country’s seat on the ECB’s six-member Executive Board.
“It is clear that Germany will continue to play an important and influential role within the central bank — I will also make that clear to my European colleagues,” German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil told reporters. “We will then make the personnel decision, and the proposals, within the federal government and will jointly put forward a proposal.”
Potential German candidates include professors Markus Brunnermeier of Princeton University, Ulrike Malmendier of Berkeley University, and Tobias Adrian, who just exited the job Schnabel will take at the IMF. Former Finance Minister Joerg Kukies could also be a potential nominee.
European Union leaders have the last word on any appointment. Given Schnabel’s position will be vacant as of early January, a decision by the final summit of the year in December is plausible.