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Top candidates to follow Draghi as ECB chief
FRANKFURT AM MAIN, May 24, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – European Central Bank president Mario Draghi must leave his post in October when his eight-year term ends.
His successor is likely to be determined in a massive round of EU top jobs horse-trading following the European Parliament elections, starting at a Brussels summit of national leaders on Tuesday.
Here are some of the top contenders.
– Jens Weidmann –
The Bundesbank supremo has just had his place in the German central bank’s brutalist concrete headquarters renewed for eight years, sitting across Frankfurt from the ECB’s glass-sheathed towers.
A former advisor to Chancellor Angela Merkel, Weidmann can boast solid central banking experience, but his implacable opposition to some of Draghi’s key crisis firefighting measures has bought him few friends outside Germany’s borders.
Sharp-tongued observers also joke that a “German” — in terms of his tough-love monetary policy, if not his actual nationality — has already held the ECB presidency in the shape of France’s Jean-Claude Trichet, in charge from 2003 to 2011.
– Francois Villeroy de Galhau –
Could that leave the door open to another Frenchman?
Bank of France governor Villeroy was installed by socialist former President Francois Hollande in 2015, and is seen as open to “flexible” and “pragmatic” monetary policy, as practised by Draghi.
Like former Goldman Sachs banker Draghi, he can look back on a spell in the private sector with BNP Paribas, possibly opening his ear to banks’ complaints about low interest rates harming profitability.
Meanwhile, his German family roots and mastery of the language could help secure Berlin’s prized backing.
– Benoit Coeure –
With a seat on the ECB board since 2011, fellow Gallic candidate Coeure’s finely-weighed sense of communication and sharp economic mind have made him a darling of markets and central bank observers alike, with his speeches at events around the world closely followed.
While he knows the ins and outs of both the issues facing the ECB and eurozone and the bank’s imposing bureaucracy, he could find himself blocked by the institution’s statute, which forbids board members serving two successive terms.
– Christine Lagarde –
The IMF chief’s name is regularly raised for the ECB presidency despite her repeated insistence that she is not angling for a European job.
Experience in major institutions and a global view of the economy count in the former business lawyer’s favour, as does her experience as economy minister under French President Nicolas Sarkozy during the 2008 financial crisis.
Naming a woman to the top job would also be a major signal in favour of diversity for the ECB, where currently just one woman numbers among its 25-strong governing council.
– Erkki Liikanen –
A social democrat and former European commissioner for budget and business, Liikanen served on the ECB’s governing council from 2004 to 2018 as head of the Finnish central bank.
Seen as independent-minded and an opinion leader, the 67-year-old long-distance runner could prove a compromise candidate thanks to his connections and statesmanlike profile — as well as his support for the Draghi line during the euro crisis.
– Olli Rehn –
Rehn, who played in Finland’s top football league in his youth, can point to little experience of central banking, having taken over at the Bank of Finland in July 2018.
But he regularly appeared at ECB governing council meetings as an observer when he served as European commissioner for economic affairs, including during the sovereign debt crisis.
In March, he staked a clear claim to the presidency by calling for an in-depth review of the ECB’s strategy, arguing the financial crisis had upended the central banking world.
BSS/AFP/MMA/1703HRS