The Spanish option of Pablo Hernández de Cos to take the lead at the European Central Bank (ECB) is gaining momentum in recent hours, as Germany and France intensify their contacts to split up the key vacant positions on the Executive Board. In this reshuffle, the former governor of the Bank of Spain emerges as the main favorite over his Dutch competitor, Klaas Knot.
According to sources cited by the German newspaper "Handelsblatt", Berlin and Paris would be fine-tuning an arrangement that would place a French representative in charge of the market operations portfolio, replacing Isabel Schnabel. In return, Germany would take the chief economist position that Philip Lane will leave free next May.
In this context, France has already made clear its preference for the Spanish candidate, by considering that Hernández de Cos would be more willing to accept commitments than Knot. Thus, French authorities would set aside their ambition to control the chief economist post for Germany’s benefit, which would open the way for a pact that places De Cos as president of the ECB.
However, the German Executive has denied the information that appeared in the French outlet "Le Point", which took for granted that an agreement had been reached between Berlin and Paris regarding De Cos’s candidacy. Negotiations will continue this Friday in Dublin, during the meeting of heads of State and Government of Europe, to which neither Pedro Sánchez nor Rob Jetten, prime minister of the Netherlands, will attend.
According to the sources consulted by the German daily, "nothing has been sealed yet" and it also highlights the high presence of representatives from Southern Europe in Community bodies: an Italian at the head of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), a French person at the European Banking Authority (EBA), a Spaniard —Hernández de Cos— at the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and a Greek presiding over the Eurogroup.
Among the German names being mentioned for the chief economist post are Markus Brunnermeier and Tobias Adrian, the latter being the former director of the Monetary and Capital Markets department of the IMF.
In the case of France, both "Le Monde" and "Financial Times" point to Laurence Boone, former chief economist of the OECD and current head of corporate banking and investment at Santander for France and Ireland, as one of the main candidates to take charge of supervision of market operations.