The croatian Boris Vujčić will replace Luis de Guindos as Vice President of the ECB
20 JAN, 2026
Photo: “Boris Vujčić at the 2019 Forum” by Stuart Isett – Fortune Global Forum, via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0). Unmodified.
The European Central Bank (ECB) already has a candidate for its vice presidency: the Croatian Boris Vujčić, current governor of the National Bank of Croatia, has been chosen by the Eurogroup to succeed the Spaniard Luis de Guindos, whose term expires at the end of May. The handover is scheduled from June 1, 2026, in a move that inaugurates a period of renewals at the top of the monetary institution of the euro zone.
The decision comes after a process that formally started in December and closed applications on January 9. In that phase, the president of the Eurogroup received six names: Mário Centeno (Portugal), Mārtiņš Kazāks (Latvia), Madis Müller (Estonia), Olli Rehn (Finland), Rimantas Šadžius (Lithuania) and Vujčić himself (Croatia).
The appointment is interpreted as a political signal
Croatia has only been in the euro for two years (it joined in 2023), but its governor has managed to make his way in an "unprecedented" competition for breadth and geographical sensitivity, in which the Baltic countries aspired to gain weight in the ECB's hard core. The Croatian victory, interpreted in Brussels as a surprise, also leaves a message about internal balances: several sources point to German support for the candidacy.
On the monetary level, Vujčić arrives with the label of "moderate hawk": a profile that prioritizes inflation control even at the cost of cooling activity, but without positioning itself at the extremes of the debate. This nuance is key because the vice presidency is not an ornamental position: it is part of the mechanism that directs the day-to-day of the ECB and participates in the Governing Council, where the course of rates and the tone of monetary policy are decided.
De Guindos' departure also opens a period of musical chairs in Frankfurt. On the horizon, more changes in the Executive Council are looming, starting with strategic positions and culminating with the end of President Christine Lagarde's term in 2027.
