“Much has been made in the media of Jens Weidmann’s candidacy, but I’m rather skeptical for three reasons,” Erik Nielsen, global head of CIB research at UniCredit, said in a note Sunday. “I suspect Weidmann’s vocal opposition to most of the ECB decisions in recent years has generated too much opposition in too many other member states for him to get the nod,” he said.
At the same time, the heads of the European Stability Mechanism, the Single Resolution Board and the European Investment Bank are all from Germany. Nielsen from UniCredit also noted that there’s already another German in the executive board of the ECB, Sabine Lautenschläger, and she would have to resign if Weidmann were to be appointed, reducing female representation in the top jobs — an issue that has often been raised about the ECB.
Meanwhile, Carsten Brzeski, chief economist at ING, also told CNBC that these reasons hurt the chances of Germany putting Weidmann forward. This despite his central banking experience and the fact that the country has never held the ECB presidency
“In short, I still think that the game is very open,” Brzeski said, but “De Guindos as vice president has clearly increased the chances for a Northern European to succeed Draghi.”
