ECB Insight: Lithuanian Candidate Swells the Field to Succeed de Guindos

18 December 2025

By David Barwick – FRANKFURT (Econostream) – The list of euro area officials seeking to become European Central Bank vice president when current officeholder Luis de Guindos’ term ends on June 1, 2026, has grown with the addition of a Lithuanian candidate, Econostream understands.

Lithuania intends to put forward three-time finance minister Rimantas Šadžius, who most recently held that post from December 2024 until late September 2025 and previously served for 3.5 years until mid-2016 as well as for 1.5 years to December 2008.

A member of the Social Democratic Party, Šadžius also served as acting prime minister of the Baltic state for almost two months through September.

His entry adds to a field that includes former Banco de Portugal governor Mário Centeno, Latvijas Banka governor Mārtiņš Kazāks, Bank of Finland governor Olli Rehn and Croatian National Bank governor Boris Vujčić, all of whom can reasonably be considered candidates even if their respective governments differ in the extent to which they have confirmed this.

In addition, as we have previously noted, the government of one further member of the ECB’s Governing Council—whose name we are not yet publishing—intends to put forward that person’s name. That brings the total to six.

At present, Centeno and Rehn, both of whom can point to long careers at the heart of euro area policymaking, appear best placed to prevail. In Econostream’s judgment, Kazāks and Vujčić likely have a stronger claim to a subsequent Executive Board vacancy.

Šadžius changes little about this arithmetic. Indeed, his own government does not appear to view him as a leading contender, and we incline to the view that the bid is intended to serve additional objectives beyond the immediate vice presidency.

In a video posted to YouTube earlier this year to welcome Bulgaria’s planned entry into the euro area—Sofia is slated to adopt the common currency in 2026—Šadžius, who was finance minister at the time, appeared to caution Bulgarians to expect noticeable price increases as a consequence of accession.

“Yes, prices, prices will grow,” he said. “Germans say, ‘Euro – Teuro.’ Yes, prices are going up all the time, all the way long.”

(The term “Teuro” is a German portmanteau of “teuer” (expensive) and “Euro,” coined to express the perception that the currency’s introduction led to higher prices.)