McCreevy abandons ECB ambitions

The Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, has said that Ireland will not put forward a candidate for a position on the executive board of the European Central Bank (ECB) which falls vacant in May.

Last April, the Minister had said that Ireland intended to put forward a candidate. However last night a spokesman for the Minister confirmed that he would not now be going ahead with a nomination. Given the high calibre of candidates likely to be nominated from other EU states, Ireland would not be nominating anyone on this occasion, he said.

There are six positions on the ECB executive board, filled by the president, the vice-president and four board members. The post becoming vacant is that held by Ms Sirkka Hämäläinen, a Finnish central banker who is in charge of the operations of the bank in the financial markets, payments systems and risk management. The decision on who will replace her when her term ends in late May will be taken by the EU finance ministers.

Ms Hämäläinen's position is reserved for a representative of one of the smaller euro member states. Belgium has already declared a candidate, Prof Paul de Grauwe, a prominent economist at a university in Leuven. The Austrians, meanwhile, are thought likely to nominate Ms Gertrude Tumpel-Gugerell, a deputy governor at their central bank.

The Belgians will push hard for their candidate, who was unsuccessful last year following his nomination for the position of vice-president of the ECB. The EU finance ministers chose the Greek central banker, Mr Lucas Papademos, although Belgium initially abstained from the vote to appoint him, in a move seen to be a tactic to boost its chance of getting the executive board job this year.

Meanwhile, the Austrian candidate is a respected senior central banker. Austria is also likely to believe that her chance of success will be boosted because she is a woman. Ms Hämäläinen was the only female member not only of the executive board but on the wider 18-member council. The council also includes the governors of the central banks of all the member states. It meets monthly to decide on interest rates.

Against this background, the task facing an Irish candidate would have been difficult. In a statement last night, the Minister said that most of the senior figures in the Department of Finance and the Central Bank were not available for nomination. The Central Bank governor, Mr John Hurley, is believed not to have been interested in the post.

Mr McCreevy told the Dáil last April it was his view that all member-states should, over time, put forward nominees for positions on the executive board. He had, he said at the time, informed the then Spanish presidency of the EU "of Ireland's intention to nominate a candidate to the executive board next year". He has now reversed this decision, as it appeared unlikely that an Irish nominee could succeed.