Six Candidates Compete to Succeed ECB Vice President de Guindos

Candidates for ECB Vice Presidency

BRUSSELS, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Six candidates have applied for the job of European Central Bank vice president to replace Spain's Luis de Guindos when his term expires at the end of May, and euro zone finance ministers will nominate one of them on January 19.

List of Candidates

The six are Portugal's Mario Centeno, Latvia's Martins Kazaks, Estonia's Madis Muller, Finland's Olli Rehn, Lithuania's Rimantas Sadzius and Croatia's Boris Vujcic, the chairman of the finance ministers' group, Kyriakos Pierrakakis, said on Friday.

Selection Process Overview

The successful candidate will need the support of at least 16 of the 21 euro area countries, representing at least 65% of the population of the euro zone.

Future of ECB Leadership

The ECB and the European Parliament will then be consulted before EU leaders take a final decision on the appointment at their summit in March, but neither institution has a veto right on the appointment.

The choice of the next ECB vice president will kick off a two-year process to replace most of the European Central Bank's executive board, including President Christine Lagarde in 2027.

The six-person ECB board, appointed by EU leaders, has been dominated by men from the big four euro zone members - France, Germany, Italy and Spain. Former communist countries in the east, making up a third of the bloc, have never held a seat.

The six oversee the ECB's day-to-day operations. Lagarde, a former French economy minister, is the first woman to have led the board. Since its inception in 1998, women have held 19% of ECB board seats.

The vice president's job may be seen as the least important of the four upcoming seats. The chief economist, the head of market operations and the president will be replaced in 2027, when their non-renewable terms also expire.

(Reporting by Jan Strupczewski, writing by Inti Landauro, editing by Louise Rasmussen; Editing by Hugh Lawson)