EU Horse-Trading Over Top Jobs Begins as Italy Makes EIB Bid

(Bloomberg) — Italy, Poland and Sweden proposed candidates to lead the European Investment Bank, according to people familiar with the matter, kicking off an initial round of European Union horse trading before bargaining over top jobs intensifies next year.

Former Finance Minister Daniele Franco is Rome’s nominee, while Warsaw put forward EIB Vice President Teresa Czerwinska, the people said Friday — speaking on the condition of anonymity — as EU finance ministers gathered in Luxembourg. That city hosts the institution that claims to be the world’s largest multilateral borrower and lender.

Sweden announced the nomination of Thomas Ostros, also an EIB vice president, on Thursday.

Poland declined to comment, while the EIB said that it’s the EU member states — the institution’s shareholders — who will pick the next president. Franco’s likely nomination was already hinted at by Finance Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti earlier this month.

Friday’s deadline for candidates is just a week before the cutoff date for nominations to lead the European Central Bank’s financial watchdog. Three women — Germany’s Claudia Buch, Spain’s Margarita Delgado and Ireland’s Sharon Donnery — are considered the favorites for that job. Both the EIB and ECB positions become available as of January.

While not the biggest prizes in the EU pecking order, the influence such roles have in financial matters still makes the push to win them worth it for member states.

This round may also give a foretaste of the future bargaining over the make-up of the European Commission, which could be up for grabs after the June 2024 EU parliament elections.

Other personnel decisions may yet emerge before then. ECB Executive Board member Fabio Panetta might return to Rome to lead the Bank of Italy this fall. Meanwhile, Spanish media have speculated that ECB Vice President Luis de Guindos could take up a government role if the country’s People’s Party wins upcoming snap elections, though he is ruling out a return to his home country, according to people familiar with his thinking.

Other personnel decisions may yet emerge before then. ECB Executive Board member Fabio Panetta might return to Rome to lead the Bank of Italy this fall. Meanwhile, Spanish media have speculated that ECB Vice President Luis Guindos could take up a government role if the country’s People’s Party wins upcoming snap elections, although he’s ruling out returning to Spain, according to people familiar with his thinking.

Meanwhile the five-year term of Jose Manuel Campa, the Spaniard who is chair of the European Banking Authority, may need to be renewed when it expires next March.

The jostling between big countries is likely to be fierce. If Buch gets the ECB supervisory job, that might compensate Germany for its nationals bowing out at the helm of the EIB, and at the European Stability Mechanism in December. But Germany also has Ursula von der Leyen currently leading the European Commission in arguably the bloc’s most coveted position, as well as Verena Ross, head of the European Securities and Markets Authority.

The EU typically attempts to distribute top jobs fairly and take into consideration size and political affiliation of a country, with appointing women an increasing priority.

The EIB role is the first sought by Italy since its rightwing coalition led by Giorgia Meloni took office in October. She and colleagues may be calculating that Franco, 70, who was a senior Bank of Italy technocrat before becoming finance minister under former premier Mario Draghi, will be more palatable to EU partners than a candidate closer to the government’s political persuasion.

Czerwinska, 48, is a former Polish finance minister and has been at the EIB since 2020. She’d be the institution’s first female president. Poland’s current government is in the midst of a long-running dispute with the EU over the rule of law, which culminated in Brussels withholding payment of the country’s share of aid from a post-pandemic fund.

Ostros, 58, is a former politician who previously led the Swedish Bankers’ Association and was later executive director for Nordic and Baltic countries at the International Monetary Fund.

While nominations for the EIB are due Friday, the appointment procedure won’t conclude until October, according to people familiar with the process. Spanish Deputy Prime Minister Nadia Calvino has said that Spain would put forward a candidate at some point.

(Updates with Guindos in eighth, Spain in final paragraph.)

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