Paschal Donohoe was seen as something of a long shot when he announced his candidacy for the presidency of the Eurogroup, the committee of eurozone finance ministers, back in 2020. Having garnered the support of Germany, France and Italy, as well as her native Spain, Nadia Calvino was the choice of the European powerbrokers. But Donohoe, aided by the well-oiled Irish diplomatic machine, worked the margins, and built a coalition of smaller northern, central and eastern European countries. Calvino’s supporters accounted for half the EU population – and its GDP. Instead, Donohoe went after the votes of smaller states, positioned…

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