European leaders will meet on Sunday to discuss on who will take over the bloc’s top jobs in the coming months
The European Council failed to reach a majority in the first round of meeting on 20 June and are set to meet again on Sunday for more talks over who will take on the presidencies of the European Commission, European Parliament, and European Central Bank.
If the bloc’s members are able to sort out the first two positions, you’d have to figure they’ll also be able to work out who will succeed Draghi later in October (given how these things are politically schemed).
As such, we could find out who will be the next ECB president over the weekend or if the council fails to reach a majority again, the process will drag on further. Regardless, it’s best to be prepared in any case should they be able to work something out.
Among the major candidates in the running for the ECB presidency are:
- Jens Weidmann (Bundesbank president)
- Benoit Coeure (ECB governing council member)
- Francois Villeroy de Galhau (Bank of France governor)
- Olli Rehn (Finnish central bank governor)
- Erkki Liikanen (Former Finnish central bank governor)
There’s also the possibility we’ll see the likes of Klaas Knot (Dutch central bank governor) and Ardo Hansson (former Estonian central bank governor) in the mix but I reckon at the end of the day, it’ll be a trade-off between France and Germany for the European Commission presidency and the ECB presidency. Talk about “fair game”, eh?