Members of the ECON Committee of the European Parliament approved the proposed appointment of Luis De Guindos as future Vice-President of the ECB, but MEPs voiced loud criticism to the appointment procedure, echoing the criticism that Positive Money has made over the last few weeks.
On Tuesday 27th February 2018, the ECON committee of the European Parliament gave their preliminary approval to the appointment of Spanish Finance Minister Luis de Guindos to the vice-presidency of the European Central Bank.
The vote in ECON however was overshadowed by a clear lack of enthusiasm from MEPs for the Spanish minister, as only 27 MEPs voted in favour with an equal number of abstention (13) and negative votes (14).
In addition to this lukewarm approval, a last minute amendment proposed by the French MEP Pervenche Bérès echoed the criticism that Positive Money Europe has made over the past few weeks on selection procedure as its is being implemented by the European Council of Ministers and the Eurogroup. In the resolution, the MEPs request “that the Council engages in dialogue with the Parliament as regards how to improve the process for the upcoming appointments.” The amendment was supported by almost all political groups, from left to right.
De Guindos, votación en la Comisión de Economía: 27 Sí, 14 No, 13 Abst. Pero sale también esta enmienda: en función de las negociaciones con el Consejo el voto en el pleno puede ser otro! No hemos terminado… pic.twitter.com/ne0bScEF3R
— Ernest Urtasun (@ernesturtasun) February 27, 2018
As we said a few weeks ago, Positive Money fully supports the MEPs claims for a better appointment procedure. In virtually every step of the current appointment process, there is a clear lack of transparency, openness and democracy.
It’s no secret, de Guindos was not “our cup of tea” for ECB job. Following today’s vote in the @EP_Economics, the Council must now engage in dialogue with the EP to fix the process of appointment to the bank – @PervencheBeres pic.twitter.com/sH02cyjVcT
— S&D Group (@TheProgressives) February 27, 2018
One of the main reason for that is the fact that the European Parliament is sidelined from the process. Because the Parliament is consulted after the Eurogroup has already decided, the European Parliament “arrives after the dust has settled, after negotiations have been concluded and compromises have been accepted” as Thomas Piketty and other academics wrote a month ago in an op-ed.
Even more shocking is the fact that the Eurogroup selected Luis de Guindos without even interviewing him. His only competitor, the Irish governor Philip Lane, withdrew his candidacy at the last minute. This leads to suspicions that the Eurogroup promised Lane the next vacant position on the ECB board should he rally behind the Spanish candidate. If all positions to the ECB board are allocated through this sort of backdoor negotiations, what is the purpose of having an official procedure and consulting Parliament?
As a result of such an opaque procedure whereby only one candidate is officially nominated by the Council, Parliament and the public cannot review different candidates. This prevents a more meaningful evaluation of the most suitable candidate. Ultimately, this process is a barrier to taking into consideration the need for a diversity of gender and political leanings to be represented on the board of the ECB.
Modest proposals for improving the appointment process
Positive Money Europe makes five modest proposals to improve the current selection process of ECB board members:
- The Parliament should suggest a shortlist of five candidates to the Eurogroup, taking into consideration the need for a diversity of viewpoints, political leanings and gender to be represented at the ECB;
- The Eurogroup should pre-select at least three candidates, taking into into full consideration the Parliament’s suggestions;
- The European Parliament should organise hearings with all declared candidates, and formulate its preference through a plenary vote;
- Candidates should commit to withdrawing their candidacy in case it is opposed by the European Parliament;
- The Council should hold a formal vote and disclose the voting record;
Those proposals do not require any change in the current treaty provision (Art. 284 TFEU). Although the 5 points make a consistent package, every single measure can be enacted by unilateral decisions of all the individual stakeholders involved in the appointment process.
Positive Money Europe will shortly discuss those constructive proposals with interested MEPs and urges the Council to accept the Parliament’s request for engaging in negotiations with the Parliament.
Will the European Council listen?
On March 8th, the ECB’s governing council will also provide its opinion on De Guindos’s candidacy to the vice-presidency. Then, the European Parliament will hold his final vote at a plenary meeting scheduled mid-March. The Socialist and Democrats group have already warned that they would vote against Luis de Guindos’ appointment in case the Council does not accept their request for a dialogue.
The current mandate of vice-president Vitor Constancio is ending on May 31st and three other positions at three ECB board will have to be refilled by end of 2019, including Mario Draghi’s position as President of the ECB.
Positive Money, together with other civil society organisations stand ready to initiate further actions to make sure future appointments of ECB board do not follow once more the currently outdated procedure.