In a secret ballot on Wednesday 7 November, the Governing Council of the ECB appointed Andrea Enria as the new Chair of the Single Supervisory Board, which is responsible for verifying the solvency of banking groups within Banking Union in the Eurozone.
Enria, who is currently the President of the European Banking Authority and will move from London to Paris when Brexit takes effect, will – notwithstanding a dramatic twist in the tale – take up his position with the ECB at the beginning of January 2019, taking over from Danièle Nouy of France for a non-renewable term of five years. He will attend a hearing, in Strasbourg on Wednesday 14 November, of the committee on economic and monetary affairs of the European Parliament, whose chair, Roberto Gualtieri (S&D, Italy), campaigned for his fellow Italian.
The Governing Council thus decided against Sharon Donnery, Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ireland, who was Enria's only rival and the favourite, according to several observers (see EUROPE 12128).
Enria's appointment comes against a backdrop of a stand-off between the Italian government and the European executive over the country's draft 2019 budget. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)