The Socialists and Democrats rejected the appointment of Luis de Guindos as European central bank’s vice-president during a vote taking place today in the European Parliament in Strasbourg. For several reasons, the S&D Euro MPs were never convinced with the current Spanish finance minister’s candidacy. They called on the president of the Eurogroup, Mário Centeno, the president of the ECOFIN, and the president of the European Council, Donald Tusk, to improve the procedure of selection for top jobs in the EU institutions, and urge president Tajani to raise the issue in the EU heads of state and government meeting next week in Brussels.

 

 

“From the start, we had our doubts about the candidacy of Luis de Guindos to the ECB. We held two exchanges of views with the two candidates that were selected by the eurozone finance ministers for the job. Following these hearings, we indicated our concerns about the selection procedure, the timeline of the process, the political independence of one of the candidates, and the issue of gender balance.

 

“We have asked the Council to engage a dialogue with us in order to explore the possibilities of improving the rules of selection. In particular, we would like a short list which includes women and comprises of at least three candidates. We are calling to enhance the transparency of the selection process and to ensure that all candidates fulfil the requirements stipulated in the treaty for the job.  But, in the current situation, the S&D Group had no other option than to reject Mr de Guindos’ appointment to the ECB.”