ECB seeks president

After the news that Axel Weber, president of Germany's central bank the Bundesbank, won't run to succeed Jean-Claude Trichet as head of the European Central Bank (ECB) the consultations on a new bank president are expected to begin at the end of March. Jean-Marc Vittori stresses in his blog A Europa desalinhada for the weekly Expresso the importance of this post in these times of crisis: "Time is ticking. In eight months Jean-Claude Trichet will leave his presidential office at the ECB. ... His most plausible successor, Axel Weber, has pulled out of the race with the elegance of an intimidated child. With his inflexible stance the Bundesbank president had ruined his potential candidacy in recent months by publicly criticising Trichet. But who can replace Trichet now? Unfortunately there is often a lot of uncertainty when it comes to important EU posts. But now the issue is extremely urgent. In 2008 a great conflagration destroyed the global economy. Last year Europe was engulfed by flames and some fires still haven't been put out. This is no time for the firemen to be left without a captain."

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