BRUSSELS: The race for a seat on the European Central Bank's powerful Executive Board gained speed on Friday as Luxembourg nominated its central bank governor Yves Mersch, broadening the field candidates to include a northern, core euro zone member state.
With the eight-year term of Spain's incumbent board member Jose Manuel Gonzalez-Paramo ending in May, the battle for a place at the heart of European monetary policy is in full force.
Mersch's nomination comes a day after Slovenia put forward its former central bank governor Mitja Gaspari and two days after Spain - keen to hang on to its seat proposed the ECB's top lawyer Antonio Sainz de Vicuna to replace Gonzalez-Paramo.
While there is an unwritten rule that the euro zone's four largest economies should be represented on the ECB's Executive board, which looks after the day-to-day operations of the bank, there are growing calls for a more balanced set-up between northern and southern member states.
Spain's weakening economy and a string of recent changes, which have left the board dominated by southern euro zone countries, have raised questions about its chances. However, its government was adamant its position should be maintained.
"We view it as a given that the job is Spain's as the euro zone's fourth largest economy," said a spokeswoman for Spain's economy ministry said on Friday.
Dutch Finance Minister Jan Kees de Jager repeated calls for a more balanced composition of the six-man board on Thursday. The Netherlands itself along with Finland are believed to weighing up their options, but have so far not presented a candidate.
France has already backed Spain to keep its seat on the ECB board, meaning that much depends on whether Germany makes a point of demanding a greater representation of healthier core countries once again.
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