Brussels, 07/02/2002 (Agence Europe) - The President of the European Central Bank (ECB) Wim Duisenberg finally threw light on the date he would be leaving when he announced on Thursday that he had decided to step down as President of the ECB on 9 July 2003, the date of his 68th birthday. According to a press release published by the ECB, Mr Duisenberg informed the President of the EU Council of Ministers, José-Maria Aznar, of his decision in writing, also informing Rodrigo Rato, the President of the ECOFIN Council. He informed the members of the ECB's three decision-making bodies of his decision orally (the Directory, the Governing Council and the General Council). The press release explains that his decision has to be understood against the background of the declaration to the European Council of 2/3 May 1998 in which, given his advanced age, he explained that he did not want to work for the full eight year term of office that began on 1 June 1998.
After the Governing Council's meeting on Thursday (see below), Mr Duisenberg explained to journalists that there was no question of him leaving before summer 2003, but he had not ruled out the option of staying on a little longer if the EU heads of state asked him to, in the interest of ensuring a smooth transition between ECB Presidents. He added that he had taken the decision for three reasons - purely "personal" reasons (68 is a "respectable" age to retire at, he said, adding that he had only discussed the question with his wife beforehand); transparency; and in order to put an end to media rumours, feeling that it would damage the ECB's credibility and also the credibility of the euro to leave the question open any longer.
Mr Duisenberg acknowledged that while removing a degree of uncertainty, his decision would certainly raise questions and speculation about who would take over as ECB President, adding that the issue was not on the agenda for next Tuesday's ECOFIN Council. Under the gentleman's agreement that was laboriously worked out at the May 1998 Summit in Brussels, the Governor of the Bank of France, Jean-Claude Trichet, will take over from Mr Duisenberg and the announcement of the latter's departure does not appear to have changed this scenario, as desired by France, especially because it gives Mr Trichet 17 months to come "unscathed" out of the judicial procedure launched against concerning the Crédit Lyonnais scandal (the legal system will soon be deciding whether or not to send the Governor of the Bank of France to court for complicity in spreading false market information and publishing inaccurate social accounts. According to the initially planned set-up, Mr Duisenberg would hand over to Mr Trichet in the summer of 2002 or thereabouts which would have enabled France to compensate for the departure of the French national who makes up one of the six ECB Directory members (the Vice-President Christian Noyer) and who will have to quit at midnight on 31 May.
French President Jacques Chirac took note of the decision, commenting that the work carried out by the ECB since it was set up had been "remarkable".
According to a European Commission spokesperson, President Prodi remarked on Mr Duisenberg's decision by saying that he was a man who kept his word and had been an excellent President, noting that the Commission would continue to work with him until 9 July 2003.
MEPs' react by raising question of his successor and replacement for Christian Noyer
The President of the European Parliament's Economic and Monetary Committee, Christa Randzio-Plath, reacted with regret but understanding to Mr Duisenberg's announcement, saying that the reasons he gave for his decision demonstrated his "independence". The European Council of Barcelona will now have to appoint the successor to the Vice-President Christian Noyer so that he or she can take over on 1 June 2002, explained the German Social Democrat. She added that Parliament intended to question the new Vice-President (as it did with all the members of the ECB's first Directory, Ed).
British Liberal Democrat Chris Huhne said that the best person to take over from Mr Duisenberg would be Jean-Claude Trichet, the Governor of the Bank of France. But this would depend on the enquiry being carried out into Crédit Lyonnais' losses, which would have to absolve him by February 2003. Realistically, he said, a decision on who is to take over from Mr Duisenberg should be taken by the EU Summit in March.