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Tussle for Next ECB Executive Board Job Is About to Kick Off

Tussle for Next ECB Executive Board Job Is About to Kick Off

(Bloomberg) --

The political horse trading over jobs in the European Central Bank’s Executive Board will soon enter the next phase.

The president of the Eurogroup, Mario Centeno, will invite bids from candidates to succeed Benoit Coeure on the six-member body that devises and implements ECB policy, a senior EU official told reporters in Brussels on Friday.

Tussle for Next ECB Executive Board Job Is About to Kick Off

Coeure’s job is the final of four board posts to come available in 2018 and 2019. The others were president, vice president and chief economist of the ECB, going to officials from France, Spain and Ireland, respectively.

The Frenchman leaves at the end of December, and Italy, which will lose its seat for the first time since the ECB was founded when Mario Draghi’s eight-year term as president finishes in October, is expected to push to fill the vacancy. Other countries may also throw their hat into the ring though -- eastern Europe has never had a seat.

Tussle for Next ECB Executive Board Job Is About to Kick Off

The deadline for submission will be sometime within the next few weeks, according to the EU official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Finance ministers will then decide on Coeure’s successor when they meet in Luxembourg on Oct. 10.

While Coeure was in charge of market operations for the ECB, Christine Lagarde has the right to reshuffle board members’ portfolios when she takes over from Draghi on Nov. 1. The next vacancy won’t open until December 2020, when Yves Mersch’s terms ends.

To contact the reporters on this story: Nikos Chrysoloras in Brussels at nchrysoloras@bloomberg.net;Zoe Schneeweiss in London at zschneeweiss@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Fergal O'Brien at fobrien@bloomberg.net, Paul Gordon

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