Spain faces its third attempt to preside over the Eurogroup with everything to lose.

BrusselsSpain does not give up and the Spanish government attempts to chair the Eurogroup Once again, the body that brings together the ministers of the Eurozone countries monthly. After the failures of Luis de Guindos and Nadia Calviño, the time has come for the current Spanish Minister of Economy, Carlos Cuerpo, who is one of the three candidates to preside over the institution in the vote that will take place this Monday at the meeting between the heads of the economy.

The Spanish minister, however, has an even tougher time than his predecessors in the Economy portfolio at the Moncloa Palace. Conservatives, liberals, or the far right.

Specifically, seven seats in the Eurogroup are controlled by the Conservatives and only four by the Socialists. The current president of the community body, the Irishman Paschal Donohoe, is Cuerpo's main rival.

Furthermore, the Spanish Minister of Economy is not the only representative of the Social Democratic family aspiring to preside over the Eurogroup: the Lithuanian Rimantas Sadzi is also running. much smaller than the conservative one, and further complicate Cuerpo's race at the helm of the organization. In fact, at this time, the only country that has explicitly supported the Spanish candidacy is Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who was a member of the Party of European Socialists (PES) but was expelled by Putin's party.

But beyond political bias, the geographic factor may be key. Northern and Eastern European countries, led by Germany, are often much more dogmatic about compliance with fiscal rules and more reluctant to pursue expansionary economic policies. In contrast, southern European countries, such as Italy, France, and Spain, favor greater fiscal leeway. These differences caused significant tensions between the two sides during the 2008 economic crisis, although they have now been substantially reduced, and there is greater consensus on the willingness to borrow to finance the rearmament of the European Union.

Be that as it may, the outcome of the vote is not entirely set in stone, and Donahoe has not yet secured the 11 votes needed to be reelected as Eurogroup president. According to diplomatic sources, the vote is expected to take place around 5:00 p.m. It will be secret, and, theoretically, no minister will know how the person next to them is voting. If none of the candidates obtains a simple majority, a second round of voting will be held.

Then, the candidates who have received the least support can withdraw. It is at this point that, for example, Cuerpo or the Lithuanian finance minister could withdraw to concentrate all the progressive votes on a single candidate. In fact, according to diplomatic sources, in Eurogroup votes, there is a tradition that the option with the least support in the first round withdraws for that very reason.

Cuerpo wants to make a name for himself in Brussels.

Cuerpo has put itself forward to preside over the Eurogroup despite knowing from the outset that it would be very difficult for it to win. However, in this case, it's true that the important thing is to participate. Just look at the cases of De Guindos and Calviño. Although they lost, the conservative is now the vice president of the European Central Bank (ECB) and the progressive is the president of the European Investment Bank (EIB), the main financial arm of the European Union. Thus, in both cases, the candidacy served to propel them forward within the European institutions.

In this way, Cuerpo can also use this step forward in chairing the Eurogroup to make a name for himself in the EU. Until now, he has gone largely unnoticed, despite being the finance minister of one of the largest and fastest-growing countries in the eurozone, a very active minister in Brussels, and perfectly familiar with the corridors of the Belgian capital. Thus, whatever the outcome of Monday's vote, the Spanish finance minister can gain notoriety and propel himself forward on the EU stage.