No EIB presidency decision expected this week -German sources

A decision on who will become European Investment Bank (EIB) president is not expected at this week’s informal EU finance ministers meeting, German finance ministry sources said.

European Union officials say the choice on the new EIB head is linked to who is picked to be the next head of the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM), which is due to be decided by the European Central Bank (ECB) on Wednesday.

The finance ministers meeting in Santiago de Compostela in Spain is seen as an opportunity for candidates for the EIB role to present their vision.

“Because it is an informal meeting, the formal decision cannot yet be made,” the sources said.

A formal decision on the EIB appointment is likely in October, at the next ECOFIN meeting, which will take place in Morocco, officials close to the talks said.

Of the five candidates, the front-runners are Denmark’s Margrethe Vestager, a liberal European Commission vice president in charge of the key competition portfolio, and Spain’s socialist Economics Minister Nadia Calvino.

Rome has requested German support for its candidate Italian central banker Daniele Franco, Italy’s Treasury said on Sunday.

The German finance ministry has not commented on who it supports, as talks with them are ongoing.

Germany’s deputy central bank Governor Claudia Buch and her Spanish counterpart, Margarita Delgado, are both in the running for the SSM job. If the Spaniard gets it, this would narrow Calvino’s chances for the EIB, because two Spanish officials in top finance jobs would be seen as too many.

Conversely, an appointment of Buch for the SSM, who is seen as a front-runner, would boost Calvino’s chances, officials say.