Brussels must find a replacement for the current director-general before 7 October
The renewal of the Directorate General of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) is complex. The only two candidates to hold the position, former Portuguese finance minister João Leão and former Luxembourg finance minister Pierre Gramegna have announced they will be withdrawing because they are unable to get 80% of the aid needed to be elected.
After months of “informal consultations” and verifying that neither could achieve a qualified majority, the two candidates withdrew to “avoid a deadlock” and replace the current Director General of the ESM, the German Klaus Regling, to facilitate. Portugal and Luxembourg report this in a joint statement. The European Commission will now have the difficult task of finding a candidate capable of achieving the required qualified majority before October 7, when Regling is expected to leave.
Eurogroup president Paschal Donohoe has stressed via a message on his social networks that the two candidates were “excellent” and assured that he will continue his efforts to find someone suitable for the position. Leão and Gramegna were the two finalists of the four candidates who presented themselves in March to fill the position, which also included Dutchman Menno Snel and Italian Marco Buti.
Now that the list of candidates is empty, it is up to Donohoe to propose an alternative to chair the mechanism that coordinates the rescue of countries experiencing financial difficulties. The person chosen by the President of the Eurogroup must then be approved by the finance ministers of the eurozone.
Source: La Verdad
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