Ireland to nominate central bank head for ECB vice president post
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Dublin is set to nominate Philip Lane, governor of Ireland’s central bank, as a candidate to succeed Vítor Constâncio as vice-president of the European Central Bank.
The nomination by Paschal Donohoe, finance minister, follows a meeting of the Irish cabinet on Tuesday at which the government gave the go-ahead to put Mr Lane’s name forward. The move, confirmed by a person with direct knowledge of the decision, will be made public later today.
The move pits Mr Lane against Luis de Guindos, Spain’s economy minister, for a post that Madrid has long had in its sights. The mandate of Mr Constâncio, who is Portuguese, expires in May.
Mr Lane was head of economics at Trinity College Dublin for 12 years before he became central bank governor in 2015.
He is highly regarded by his counterparts on the ECB’s governing council, including officials close to president Mario Draghi. The CBI governor is viewed as the strongest economist on the 25-member council, in contrast to his rival Mr De Guindos who officials in Frankfurt see as ill equipped for the role of vice president owing to his lack of experience in monetary policy.
Ireland is the only founding member of the eurozone that is yet to send a candidate to Frankfurt to take a seat on the ECB’s six-strong executive board.
If he does not secure the position on the executive board on this occasion, Mr Lane could succeed Peter Praet as the ECB’s chief economist when the Belgian departs in mid 2019.
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