Brussels, 16/02/2010 (Agence Europe) - In a recommendation adopted on Tuesday 16 February, the Ecofin Council nominated the current governor of the Banco de Portugal, Vitor Constancio, as the next vice president of the European Central Bank (ECB). Constancio will take over from Lucas Papademos from Greece, whose mandate ends at the end of May. His nomination still, nevertheless, needs to be given the official seal of approval by the heads of state and government, who will give their decision during the European Council on 25-26 March, following consultation with the European Parliament. Other figures in the running were Peter Praet from Belgium and Yves Mersch from Luxembourg.
This nomination is perceived as paving the way for Axel Weber from Germany taking over from Jean-Claude Trichet at the head of the Frankfurt institution in 2011. The governor of the Bundesbank is, together with Mario Draghi from Italy, the most likely candidate for this post and many observers consider that the choice of a vice president from southern Europe would help the nomination of a president from the North. The Portuguese finance minister, Fernando Teixeira dos Santos, nonetheless, declared at the end of the Eurogroup meeting, that the nomination of Constancio would not have any impact on the choice of the next president of the ECB. Although Germany supported the candidacy of Constancio, this does not mean the post of president of the ECB is already a done deal, explained Juncker. In an interview with radio Deutschlandfunk, Junker stated that “this short-term policy seeks to ensure that someone from southern Europe is vice president of the ECB, so that the president of the European Central Bank comes from the north of Europe, namely Germany. This demonstrates a very short-term vision of things”. He also asserted that Germany would have to fight for the post of president. (A.B./transl.fl)