Eurogroup finance ministers are expected to decide on Monday on the appointment of either former Banka Slovenije governor Boštjan Jazbec or his Dutch rival candidate Frank Elderson to the six-member executive board of the European Central Bank (ECB).
One of the two will succeed Yves Mersch from Luxembourg, who beat Mitja Gaspari, also a former head of the Slovenian central bank, in the race for the post in 2012. Jazbec would be Slovenia’s first ECB executive board member.
The get appointed to the post, which will be vacated on 14 December, the candidate needs the support of at least 14 of the 19 countries that represent at least 65% of the eurozone population. The member is finally appointed by EU leaders, but upon recommendation from he EU Council in consultation with the European Parliament and the ECB.
Prime Minister Janez Janša assessed in Brussels on Saturday that Jazbec, a director at the Single Resolution Board in the framework of the banking union, had a good chance, but he added that Elderson, the executive director for oversight at the Dutch central bank, was a strong candidate too.