Brussels, 16/12/2013 (Agence Europe) - The departure of Jörg Asmussen from the European Central Bank executive board to join the German government will be a “serious loss” for the ECB and he must be replaced as soon as possible, said the head of the ECB, Mario Draghi, on Monday 16 December at a hearing at the European Parliament's economic and monetary affairs committee.
Asmussen is leaving the job he has held at the ECB since the end of 2011 to become secretary of state for the German labour minister, Andreas Nahles. Asmussen had always insisted that he would see his job through to the end of his term of office in 2019, but after announcing his departure, he explained he had taken the decision for family reasons. To replace him, the name of the deputy-president of the Bundesbank, Sabine Lautenschläger, is doing the rounds. The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, will begin her third term of office on Wednesday.
Doubts about SRM architecture. As negotiations are in full flood on the single resolution mechanism (see separate article), Draghi expressed doubts about the decision-making process selected last week whereby the resolution board would make decisions that would then be endorsed by the European Commission. “I am concerned that decision-making may become overly complex and financing arrangements may not be adequate” for the resolution fund, said Draghi, adding: “I urge you and the Council to swiftly set up a robust Single Resolution Mechanism, for which three elements are essential in practice: a single system, a single authority and a single fund. We should not create a Single Resolution Mechanism that is single in name only.” He said that the talks on a single savings guarantee system had been suspended, not dropped. (EL/transl.fl)