European Union finance ministers decided last night to nominate the Spanish candidate to fill the next vacancy on the board of the European Central Bank (ECB).

Ireland's nominee, Mr Michael Tutty, trailed in third of the three candidates after a contest that re-awakened concern about the balance of power between large and small countries on the ECB board.

Mr José Manuel González-Páramo will fill the space left by his compatriot, Mr Domingo Solans.

Mr Tutty, currently a member of the board of the European Investment Bank, was eliminated in the first round of discussions. The contest turned into a run-off between Mr González-Páramo and the Belgian candidate, Mr Peter Praet.

The Belgian finance minister, Mr Didier Reynders, said that a majority of the finance ministers had backed the Spanish candidate, with voting weighted to take account of the population of member-states.

Germany was strongly backing the Spanish candidature because it wished to establish a helpful precedent before the present German member of the board, Prof Otmar Issing, reaches the end of his term in 2006.

"It was not simply a case of big states against small," Mr Reynders said, adding that he had felt it was futile to press the candidature of Mr Praet any further.

This was the third time a Belgian candidate for the ECB board has failed to win a place.

The appointment of Mr González-Páramo, a 45-year-old professor of public finance at Complutense University in Madrid, opens the possibility of Spain winning two international appointments in quick succession.

At present, Mr Rodrigo Rato, who was finance minister in the outgoing conservative Spanish government, is the only candidate to succeed Mr Horst Köhler as head of the International Monetary Fund.