Five candidates have been put forward for the position of president of the European Investment Bank (EIB), the first of several top EU positions to be appointed by member governments over the next 12 months, according to Belgian Finance Minister Vincent van Peteghem. Reuters and news.ro

The state-owned EIB is the largest multilateral financial institution in the world by assets and will be a key player in financing Europe’s ambitious transition to a zero-emissions and more digital economy.

Also, the EU countries will decide next year who will head the first three institutions of the bloc – the Commission, the Council and the Parliament – plus the head of foreign policy.

Elections for one position affect others because of the need to maintain a balance between gender, political affiliation, nationality and country size in appointments.

The current head of the EIB, German Werner Heuer, has held this position since 2012. He will step down at the end of the year, leaving a vacant position at the bank, which has a total balance sheet of 544 billion euros ($582.24 billion). subscribed capital of 249 billion euros.

The leading candidates among the five candidates to replace him are Denmark’s Margrethe Vestager, the European Commission’s liberal vice-president responsible for the key competition portfolio, and Spain’s socialist finance minister, Nadia Calvino.

Also interested are the head of the central bank of Italy, Daniele Franco, politically neutral, former right-wing minister of Poland and current vice-president of the EIB, Tereza Czerwińska, and former energy minister of Sweden, socialist and current vice-president of the EIB, Thomas Ostros.

“You can say we are really spoiled because all the candidates are great,” German Finance Minister Christian Lindner said last Thursday.

The EIB is the financial arm of the EU and operates in 160 countries, offering loans, guarantees, equity investments and advisory services. It focuses in particular on combating climate change and environmental protection and sustainable energy.

EU officials say the election of a new head of the EIB is linked to the election of the next head of the banking watchdog, the Single Supervisory Mechanism, which the European Central Bank will choose on September 13.

The deputy head of the German Central Bank, Claudia Buch, and her Spanish colleague, Margarita Delgado, are participating in the race.

If a Spaniard gets the SSM job, it will reduce Calvino’s chances at the EIB, as two Spaniards with two top positions in the financial sector will be considered too many.

Conversely, appointing Buch to SSM, who is considered the favorite, will boost Calvino’s chances, officials say.

Vestager is backed by the Renew political group of EU liberal parties, which includes President Emmanuel Macron’s French ruling party, but some French officials have warned that support from Paris is not guaranteed.

The appointment of the head of the EIB will be discussed next week at a meeting of EU finance ministers in Spain, but a decision is not expected until October, officials close to the discussions said.