Claudia Buch had to be prepared for harsh criticism when she took her seat in the European Parliament on Wednesday morning. The members of the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee interviewed her a second time from ten o’clock, and this time it was no longer a female applicant in front of them, but the designated head of banking supervision at the European Central Bank (ECB). The ECB Council had previously nominated the current Bundesbank Vice President Buch, thereby going against the committee’s recommendation. He voted unanimously for Margarita Delgado, the deputy governor of the Spanish central bank. And the parliamentarians don’t appreciate it at all when they are ignored.
But the meeting turned out to be more conciliatory than it could have been. In addition to a few critical comments and questions about Buch’s self-confidence, the parliamentarians mainly wanted to know more about her views on financial stability. “I can only assure you,” said Buch, “that I am available for this position with all my experience, my knowledge, my energy and my time.” She preferred to leave the dispute between parliament and the central bank uncommented. In the afternoon, the committee members present voted narrowly for the 57-year-old, with 29 votes to 23 and two abstentions. It had previously become clear that most MPs would not risk an institutional crisis – Parliament against the ECB – because of this personality.
Nationality plays a role in the allocation of top jobs
This decision was important in the allocation of top EU jobs that is now beginning, the climax of which is coming next summer after the European elections. The vote in the plenary session of Parliament in October and the subsequent confirmation by the Council of Ministers are considered formalities. It is almost certain that the former economics professor Buch will become Europe’s top bank controller from January.
This would clear the way for another candidate to an even more powerful position: Nadia Calviño, Spain’s non-party finance minister in the Social Democratic government of Pedro Sanchez, would like to head the European Investment Bank (EIB) in Luxembourg from January. She is considered the most promising of five candidates for the presidency of the EU development bank, which plays a key role in, among other things, financing the energy transition and the reconstruction of Ukraine.
In the Brussels power structure, Calviño would have had poor chances if Delgado had been involved. Two Spanish women in top financial jobs is not possible according to the logic of the EU’s allocation of positions. The chances are now poor for the previous EU Commissioner Margrete Vestager from Denmark, Calviño’s most promising competitor in the race to succeed German EIB President Werner Hoyer.