Brussels, 19/02/2003 (Agence Europe) - The Belgian Finance Minister, Didier Reynders, stated in Paris on Wednesday that Jean-Clause Trichet was an excellent candidate to succeed Wim Duisenberg at the head of the ECB. "Mr Trichet (…) has all the necessary qualities. It is now up to the French government to say whether Mr Trichet should succeed Mr Duisenberg", he added. The Belgian Minister confirmed that he had "decided at European level- a process repeated by the heads of state and government under the Spanish presidency- that the presidency of the Bank would revert to a French candidate". Mr Trichet, currently the governor of the Banque de France, will have to wait until 18 June to see whether he will be sentenced in the Credit Lyonnais falsified accounts case, dating back to his time as Treasury Director in the Ministry of Finance. Even a token sentence could prevent his taking up the presidency of the ECB, less than three weeks before the planned date for Wim Duisenberg's retirement.
Presidency expecting applications from other countries in addition to those received
from Austria and Belgium to replace Mrs Hamalainen
The Greek Finance Minister, Nikos Christodoulakis declared on Wednesday that he was expecting countries other than Austria and Belgium to submit applications to replace the Finn Sirkka Hamalainen as member of the Executive Board of the ECB. Austria on Monday put forward Gertrude Tumpel-Gugerell, vice-governor of the Austrian Central Bank, and Belgium has entered politician Paul de Grauwe in the race.