“In the entire musical chair game of upcoming nominations for European top jobs, the vice-presidency at the ECB is important. It could be a counterweight to the president. It could also be a way to give a smaller euro zone country a top job,” Brzeski said.
Again, Spain’s de Guindos is seen as a potential candidate.
What’s known at the moment is that it’s not certain that Germany will get the presidency of the ECB, despite many media reports pointing towards Jens Weidmann, the governor of the German central bank, as the most likely name to take the most important seat at the ECB.
“For Germany, or at least for the German public, the ECB presidency is highly symbolic,” Brzeski said.
“Even though a German ECB president could be a bit too much of German dominance in Europe, Germany could use the ECB presidency as change for agreeing to a set of more controversial measures when it comes to further euro zone integration,” Brzeski added.
However, some argue that Germany will want to have someone from outside its country to put the blame on whenever the course of monetary policy doesn’t fit its interests.
