Greece’s newly elected Eurogroup President, Kyriakos Pierrakakis, will also serve as President of the European Stability Mechanism’s (ESM) Board of Governors—an appointment that takes effect on December 12 and follows automatically from his Eurogroup role. The ESM confirmed the decision, noting that Pierrakakis succeeds former Eurogroup chief Paschal Donohoe, who stepped down last month.
The ESM emphasized that Pierrakakis will hold this position for the duration of his Eurogroup presidency. The Board of Governors, the ESM’s highest decision-making body, consists of the finance ministers of the eurozone member states. It holds responsibility for critical decisions, including the approval of financial assistance programs, which require unanimous agreement.
Pierrakakis was appointed Greece’s Minister of Economy and Finance in March 2025 and is also a member of parliament. His political track record includes serving as Minister of Education, Religious Affairs, and Sports from 2023 to 2025, and as Minister of Digital Governance from 2019 to 2023.
ESM Managing Director Pierre Gramegna congratulated Pierrakakis and highlighted the broader significance of the appointment. He noted that it reflects how far Greece has come since the financial turmoil of the previous decade, a period during which the ESM played a central role in stabilizing the country’s economy. Gramegna added that Pierrakakis’s leadership is expected to support the shared goals of economic stability and prosperity across the eurozone.
Pierrakakis’s dual roles place him at the center of European economic policy at a time of shifting fiscal priorities, giving Greece an influential voice within the EU’s financial architecture.
