Brussels, 07/11/2012 (Agence Europe) - The bad penny of the appointment of a candidate to become a new member the European Central Bank's Executive Board is causing problems for Robert Goebbels (S&D, Luxembourg). He has written a letter to Martin Schulz, president of the European Parliament, criticising the president's move of officially asking the European Council to take account of the Parliament's negative opinion on the candidacy of the governor of the Luxembourg Central Bank, Yves Mersch (see EUROPE 10718). 'Should the European Council follow this suggestion, the European Parliament would be granted a right of veto on any future appointments to the ECB. Such an approach would lead to a de facto amendment of the EU Treaty, which was endorsed by 27 national parliaments in its current form,' explains Goebbels, adding that 'this would be a total disregard for the democratic principles on which the EU is founded. (…) The Parliament has to respect the Treaty, even if this does not fit some colleagues.'
On Monday, Spain (which presented its own candidate for the ECB job earlier this year) surprised everyone by objecting to Mersch being given the job (see EUROPE 10723). The written procedure used by the European Council for such matters requires unanimous agreement from the member states. A special EU summit on the 2014-2020 budget on 22 and 23 November will discuss the ECB appointment and make a formal decision by a qualified majority vote. (MB/transl.fl)