BERLIN (MNI) – Luxembourg Central Bank Governor Yves Mersch’s
chances of being appointed to the European Central Bank Executive Board
have increased because Spain has agreed to withdraw its candidate for
the post, Germany’s business daily Handelsblatt reported Wednesday,
citing diplomatic sources in Brussels.
According to the paper, Spain has agreed that a top Spanish
government official, Belen Romana Garcia, will become the head of
Europe’s permanent rescue fund, the European Stability Mechanism (ESM).
This would mean that Spain gives up its claim for a seat on the ECB’s
Executive Board.
Spain had been insisting the ECB board seat go to a Spanish
national, because it is being vacated by one — Jose Manuel
Gonzalez-Paramo, whose eight-year term ends May 31. If a Spaniard does
not replace Gonzalez-Paramo, then Spain, the Eurozone’s fourth largest
economy, will have nobody on the ECB Board.
According to the Brussels diplomatic sources cited by the
newspaper, it is now almost certain that German Finance Minister
Wolfgang Schaeuble will become the next head of the Eurogroup when
Jean-Claude Juncker steps down from that post this summer.
The resignation of Juncker also enhances the chances of Mersch,
since they are both from Luxembourg and it might have been difficult to
have two officials from a tiny country in such influential positions.
–Berlin bureau: +49-30-22 62 05 80; email: twidder@marketnews.com
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