MEPs to endorse ECB board

MEPs are today expected to endorse the nomination by heads of government of the six members of the executive board of the European Central Bank (ECB), despite reservations about ambiguities in the agreed term of its president, Mr Wim Duisenberg.

The Parliament vote is only consultative but board members at hearings last week indicated that they would consider their positions if MEPs voted against them.

Although five of the candidates seem certain to get a ringing endorsement, there were suggestions last night, however, that sections of the largest parliamentary group, the Socialists - although not his compatriots - will abstain on the Spanish nominee, Dr Eugenio Domingo Solans. Objections to Dr Domingo Solans, an academic and member of the board of the Bank of Spain, appear to be based on a combination of concern at his ultra-liberal monetary policies and feelings that he had an unwillingness to engage in a real dialogue with the MEPs during the parliamentary hearings last week. The vote in the plenary session is expected to back the recommendation by the Parliament's Monetary Committee which was meeting last night in closed session but whose key members had made clear they would be supporting the nominations.