Margarita Delgado, the current deputy governor of the Bank of Spain, was the most qualified for the position, the European Parliament has unanimously recognized; However, other factors intervene in the elections for the positions of the European Central Bank, such as balances of power and geographical distributions that have ended up giving victory to her rival, the German Claudia Buch, vice president of the Bundesbank.
At stake was the replacement of the Italian Andrea Enria at the head of the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM), the body in charge of supervising the main banks in the euro zone to ensure that they meet prudential requirements, detect potential weaknesses and ensure that they are corrected. .
The ECB announced this afternoon the nomination of Claudia Buch for a non-extendable five-year term at the head of the Supervisory Board starting next January 1. Before that, Buch will have to pass a hearing in the Economics Committee of the European Parliament, which must give him approval. A parliament that, let us remember, had opted for the Spanish candidate. Today the Governing Council of the ECB voted by majority in favor of the German candidate in a secret vote.
A decision that has not gone down well with parliamentarians. The Eurochamber, which has veto power in this appointment, expressed orally and in writing to Lagarde his preference for Delgado. His bet on Buch has not gone down well. “It is not a question of whether the candidate chosen by the ECB to govern the Supervisory Board is qualified or not for the position, but rather that the ECB has adopted this decision ignoring the recommendation of the European Parliament,” protests the vice-president of the Economy Committee. , Eva Potcheva, from Ciudadanos, who sees “no reason” for the EP to now change the direction of its vote regarding its recommendation in favor of Delgado. “If the candidate proposed by the ECB does not pass the vote of Parliament, we return to square one to elect Andrea Enria’s successor,” Potcheva warns.
It was in July when the European Parliament placed the Spanish woman as the most suitable for the position. After the hearings held with the two candidates, Delgado obtained the unanimous support of the coordinators of the Parliament’s Economy Commission, something unusual. In her favor is her understanding of the internal functioning of the European Central Bank, and her experience in regulation, both at the Bank of Spain and at the ECB. Delgado collaborated in the establishment of the supervision mechanism and was deputy general director of the organization.
On the other hand, the German Claudia Buch lacks similar experience in supervision, but may have other elements in her favor, such as her position as vice president of the Bundesbank, nationality, or her regular visits to the Governing Council of the ECB accompanying the president of the Bundesbank. Last week, discomfort was detected among European parliamentarians upon learning that the letter they sent to the president of the ECB, Christine Lagarde, showing their clear preference for Delgado had not been transmitted to the Governing Council of the organization, which has to carry out the election, according to the Bloomberg agency.
The emergence of the candidacy of another Spaniard, the first vice president and Minister of Economy, Nadia Calviño, for the presidency of the EIB, the financial arm of the European Union, may also have helped him. A candidacy that in principle has to be decided this weekend at the informal council of EU Economy Ministers in Santiago de Compostela. “The Spaniards cannot take everything,” point out European diplomatic sources, although the Ministry of Economy insists that they are different positions and that there should be no interference.
Calviño’s candidacy for the EIB has as its main rival the Danish Margrethe Vestager, respected European Commissioner for Competition, although her actions have caused confrontations with countries like France that could now take their toll. The last episode was the opposition from Paris, with the intervention even of President Emmanuelle Macron himself, to his intention to appoint a North American economist to a senior position in the European Commission in the Competition department.
The current chairman of the Supervisory Board, the Italian Andrea Ernia, has recently lavished criticism on banking taxes such as the one established in Spain. He considers that these taxes can “reduce the investor attractiveness” of the financial sector and has warned against the possibility of a chronic rate of this type, since they could harm the banks’ appreciation of the risks derived from interest rates. .
