Brussels, 06/05/2011 (Agence Europe) - Perhaps a sign of agreement between France and Germany - the French economics minister, Christine Lagarde, has hinted that Germany's finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, will back the candidacy of the governor of Banca d'Italia, Mario Draghi, to take over in November from Jean-Claude Trichet at the helm of the European Central Bank. She said on Radio Classique and iTele in France that her colleague Wolfgang Schäuble backed Mario Draghi, who had all the skills needed to head the ECB. These comments were not confirmed by Schauble's spokesperson, despite reports in the media.
At a Franco-Italian summit at the end of April, the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, backed the Banca d'Italia governor (see EUROPE 10365), but the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, had not made any official statements one way or the other. Lagarde said that Merkel had told her she would not comment until June, Lagarde hoping Merkel's views would emerge before then. The German media reports that the Chancellor is trying to win concessions in return for her backing, like Germany being given the presidency of the EU's Economic and Finance Committee and/or the Financial Stability Forum at the IMF. The June 2011 European Council will be voting on the new president of the ECB (qualified majority vote). On Thursday, the ECB decided to leave interest rates unchanged (after raising interest rates in the eurozone last month - the first rise since the onset of the economic crisis in 2008, see EUROPE 10372). (M.B./transl.fl)