Pascal Donohoe, head of the Eurogroup panel of eurozone finance ministers, quit Tuesday to take up a senior job at the World Bank, his spokesperson told AFP. Ireland’s finance minister, who announced his resignation to cabinet ministers in Dublin, will become managing director at the Washington-based World Bank, they added. The 51-year-old took the helm in 2020 at the informal Eurogroup, whose chief carries weight in Brussels policy-making. Donohoe was among the influential voices in Brussels, alongside EU chief Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa. He had previously been viewed as a possible candidate to lead the International Monetary Fund, a job that has only ever gone to a European. The World Bank, its twin organisation also based in Washington, helps developing countries with loans and advice.
Donohoe is the most experienced minister in the Irish government and his departure delivers a blow to the centrist governing coalition at a time when it is under pressure. It last month suffered a landslide defeat in a presidential election when its candidate lost to the opposition-backed leftwinger Catherine Connolly. The government faces a series of by-elections in the coming months, while Donohoe’s party leader Simon Harris — also deputy prime minister — will have to find a new finance minister.
Source: AFP
