João Leão is out of the race for bailout fund chief

João Leão and Luxembourg’s Pierre Gramegna have withdrawn from the race to lead the European Stability Mechanism (ESM). Neither candidate gathered the necessary votes to lead the eurozone bailout fund, so Portugal and Luxembourg decided to drop their candidacies to “avoid a deadlock and not to prejudice the succession” in the entity.

Klaus Regling’s succession process has been dragging on for months after several meetings of the Eurogroup reduced the list of candidates to these two names who have now withdrawn after failing to achieve the qualified majority of 80% of votes needed for the appointment.

Accordingly, “to avoid a deadlock and not to prejudice the succession” at the ESM, Portugal and Luxembourg decided “by common agreement” to withdraw their candidacies from contention as of Tuesday, the Portuguese Finance Ministry said in a statement sent to journalists.

“The president of the Eurogroup and chairman of the board of governors of the ESM, Paschal Donohoe, will report on the subsequent process in due course,” the Portuguese government added.