On Saturday 11 November in Malaga, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced his country’s support for Spanish minister Nadia Calviño’s candidacy for the presidency of the European Investment Bank (EIB) (see EUROPE 13272/12).
“I worked intensively with Nadia Calviño when I was Germany’s finance minister. And I think she would be an excellent President of the EIB”, he said during the Party of European Socialists Congress (see other news and EUROPE 13290/10). This announcement by the EU’s largest economy significantly strengthens the Spanish minister’s chances, since to be elected, a candidate must have the support of at least 18 countries representing 68% of the EIB’s capital.
On Thursday 9 November, the Belgian finance minister, Vincent Van Peteghem, who is leading discussions between the Member States, indicated that five candidates were still in the running, and urged the countries that hold a large share of the EIB’s capital to make a decision “as soon as possible”.
A decision must be taken before the end of 2023, when the outgoing President, Werner Hoyer from Germany, completes his second six-year term. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)