Ireland’s Lane in suspense as backing sought for ECB job

Bloomberg

Philip Lane has staked his claim to become the European Central Bank’s (ECB) next chief economist — now he must wait to see if he has the field to himself.
At a meeting of euro-zone finance ministers, the Irish central-bank governor became the first nominee to replace Peter Praet on the ECB’s Executive Board in June. That puts him in prime position to take on Praet’s powerful role of overseeing economic projections and writing monetary-policy recommendations.
Yet while no other candidates were named, the race is far from over. Governments have until the end of the month to put forward their proposals, with a final choice targeted for mid-February. Heavyweight economies such as Germany — which held the chief economist role from the euro’s foundation until Belgium’s Praet won the position eight years ago — have yet to give their view.
Finance ministers will choose the next board member, and governments will have to sign off. It’s within ECB President Mario Draghi’s gift to allocate a portfolio. Draghi and Praet are the only two of the six top officials with an economics PhD, making such a qualification an important distinction in winning the post.
Lane has a doctorate from Harvard, and has previously expressed an interest in joining the board. He raised his profile in 2018 when the Irish finance ministry put him forward for the ECB vice presidency, before withdrawing him in favour of Spain’s Luis de Guindos.
Ireland is also the only founding euro member never to have had a board seat, and its ambitions could carry outsized weight just now as the European Union seeks to alleviate concerns that the country will suffer from a disorderly Brexit in the neighboring UK It missed out on another top position last year when Deputy Governor Sharon Donnery unexpectedly lost her bid to lead the ECB’s bank-supervision arm.