This Thursday, the finance ministers of the euro zone debate the appointment of the next executive director of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), a position for which former minister João Leão is running, when there is a lack of consensus among the 19.
In addition to João Leão, the former Luxembourg Finance Minister, Pierre Gramegna, and the former chief of staff of the European Commissioner for the Economy, Marco Buti, are running as candidates, one of the three names to replace the German Klaus Regling, who is executive director of the MEE since its creation in 2012 and ends its mandate at the beginning of October.
The discussion takes place at the annual meeting of the Board of Governors of the MEE, the highest decision-making body of the organization, which is made up of government representatives from each of the 19 shareholders of the mechanism, the euro countries, with the Finance portfolio . Portugal is represented by the corresponding minister, Fernando Medina.
At the meeting held in Luxembourg, it will then be up to the Governing Board of the MEE to make this decision, in a vote by qualified majority, that is, 80% of the votes cast, with voting rights being equal to the number of shares attributed to each ESM member country in the authorized share capital.
Portugal, for example, has a voting right of around 2.5%, Germany (26.9%) and France (20.2%), the latter with greater weight in the vote and with veto power. For a candidate to be elected as executive director of the mechanism, he must have the support of at least 80% of the votes of the members of the ESM, which is why European sources admit that there is no consensus at today’s meeting.
As Klaus Regling is in office until October 7, the same sources acknowledge that if there is no agreement, there is still time for a new discussion. The executive director of the MEE is responsible for conducting the work of the mechanism, acting as the legal representative of the organization and presiding over the Board of Directors, with a mandate of five years and renewable only once.
Headquartered in Luxembourg, the ESM is an intergovernmental organization created by the member states of the eurozone to prevent and overcome financial crises and maintain long-term financial stability and prosperity by providing loans and other types of financial assistance to countries with serious financial difficulties.
In the previous government, João Leão assumed the Treasury portfolio, after having been Secretary of State for the Budget, between 2015 and 2019.
Source: Observadora
