Brussels, 05/11/2012 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 5 November, Spain officially blocked the appointment of the governor of the Central Bank of Luxembourg, Yves Mersch, to the ECB Executive Board. It was enough for one member state to oppose this appointment by Monday in the framework of a written procedure initiated on Wednesday 31 October in secret through the staff of President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy. “At this stage, this written procedure has been blocked by at least one member state, Spain, which is enough to stop it. We are delighted with this decision, which strengthens democracy”, said MEPs Sylvie Goulard (ALDE, France) and Sven Giegold (Greens/EFA, Germany) in a press release. They warned that “rejecting this written procedure does not however signify the end of the process: it is now for the European Council to discuss and to decide”.
The European Council itself pointed out the failure of the written procedure in a press release: “The European Council was not today in a position to take a decision by written procedure on the appointment of a new member of the ECB Executive Board. The issue will be on the agenda of an upcoming meeting in the European Council with the objective of taking the formal decision.” If there had not been opposition from any member states, Mersch would have taken up office on 15 November (until 2018).
The ECB Executive Board is a supranational body that should not be subject to considerations about a member state's size, Goulard told EUROPE. In the past, Spain has always had one of its nationals on the Executive Board. Spain's Permanent Representation to the EU in Brussels could not give any explanations to the blocking of Yves Mersch (the high-level decision was taken in Madrid). In the spring, the Spanish government suggested that Antonio Sáinz de Vicuña should replace José Manuel González-Páramo. Goulard commented that the former MEPs from the European Parliament's economic and monetary affairs committee were now in the Spanish government so it was well aware of the EP's views that there should at least be a woman candidate for the vacant post on the Executive Board.
By a slight majority a fortnight ago, the European Parliament voted against Mersch's appointment (see EUROPE 10718). The vote is not legally binding and was not a rejection of Mersch because of lack of qualifications, but rather because of gender. Mersch's appointment would mean that there are no men on the ECB Executive Board, and this lack of women would continue until 2018. From the date when the ECB was set up until May 2011, there was a woman on the ECB Executive Board, Gertrude Tumpel-Gugerell of Austria, and although the European Council is not bound by the EP's views, it is not certain that it will take the risk of generating open warfare with the EP during the negotiations of the EU's new seven-year budget (Multiannual Financial Framework) at a time when the EP will be engaging in greater financial scrutiny under the strengthening of economic and monetary union.
Goulard and Giegold say: “The battle continues. We again ask the president of the European Parliament, in line with Article 109(4) of the rules of procedure, to request the Council to withdraw its nomination and to submit a new nomination to Parliament which should be a competent female candidate”. The two MEPs criticised Van Rompuy for trying to push Mersch's appointment through at the start of the European Council's written procedure. (MB/transl.fl)