European Parliament wins chance of bigger say in ECB vice president race

The European Parliament could have an early say in the race for the European Central Bank vice presidency, a win for lawmakers after years of pushing for more influence over the EU’s top appointments.

Eurozone finance ministers will begin the process of selecting a successor to Luis de Guindos on Thursday, according to a draft timeline seen by POLITICO and an EU diplomat who separately confirmed the document’s content. The deadline for submitting candidates will be in early January, although an exact date is still to be agreed. 

According to the document, members of the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee will have the right to hold in-camera hearings with all the candidates in January before the Eurogroup formally proposes a name to the European Council for appointment.

This would mark a break with the past, when MEPs only got involved in the process after ministers had already had their say. Involving the Parliament at an earlier stage could influence the selection process, for example by giving it the chance to press for adequate gender balance in the list of candidates. This had been one of the Parliament’s demands in its latest annual report on the ECB’s activities.

“The Parliament will play a stronger role this time,” the diplomat told POLITICO.

So far, only Greece is considering proposing a woman for the vice president slot: Christina Papaconstantinou, who is currently deputy governor at the C. Finland, Latvia, Croatia and Portugal are all set to propose male candidates.

The candidate picked by ministers will return to lawmakers for an official hearing, which should take place between March and April, according to the document. MEPs have limited power over the final appointment, but they will issue a nonbinding opinion, which is then adopted through a plenary vote. The new vice president will be formally appointed by the European Council in May, before taking office on June 1.

So far, only Greece is considering proposing a woman for the vice president slot. | Aris Messinis/Getty Images

The vice president’s position is the first of four to come up for rotation at the ECB’s Executive Board over the next two years. It wasn’t immediately clear if the other three appointments — including the one for a new president — will give the lawmakers the same degree of influence.

CORRECTION: This article was updated on Dec. 9 to correct the spelling of the surname of the deputy governor of the Bank of Greece.