EU Parliament Approves Spain’s De Guindos as Vice-President of ECB

17:32 GMT, 14 March 2018

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The European Parliament on Wednesday approved the appointment of former Spanish Economy, Industry and Competitiveness Minister Luis de Guindos as the vice-president of the European Central Bank (ECB).

Sputnik

A total of 331 members of parliament voted in favor of de Guindos, while 306 lawmakers voted against his candidacy while 64 others abstained.

"Parliament delivered a favorable opinion on former Spanish Finance Minister Mr de Guindos’ candidature for the ECB post," the European Parliament said in a statement.

At the same time, the parliament expressed concerns "regarding gender balance, the selection procedure, the timing of the appointment and political independence," and requested that the European Council engaged "in a dialogue with Parliament as regards how to improve the process for upcoming appointments."

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In February, de Guindos’ appointment was backed by the parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee, 19 finance ministers of the eurozone (Eurogroup), along with the Economic and Financial Affairs Council (Ecofin). The final decision will be taken by the European Council on March 22-23.

The new ECB vice-president is expected to replace Portuguese Vitor Constancio on June 1, 2018 for a non-renewable eight-year term.

De Guindos was the Spanish economy, industry and competitiveness minister between December 21, 2011, and March 7, 2018.