French president Mr Jacques Chirac will officially reaffirm at a European Union summit starting tomorrow that Jean-Claude Trichet is France's candidate to take over as European Central Bank president, it was confirmed today.
A French judge earlier today acquitted Mr Trichet, Bank of France governor, in a banking scandal trial.
"Mr Trichet is France's candidate for the succession," Mr Chirac's spokeswoman Ms Catherine Colonna told reporters ahead of the meeting of EU leaders in Thessaloniki, Greece tomorrow and Friday.
Ms Colonna said Mr Chirac would bring up the issue of the ECB succession during, or on the margins of, the summit. Asked how the Elysee evaluated the risk of a possible appeal against Mr Trichet's acquittal, Mr Colonna said: "I have no further comment to make on this subject."
"That's the decision of the French authorities," Ms Colonna said, referring to the decision to maintain Mr Trichet's candidacy.
Mr Trichet had been charged with complicity in publication of misleading accounts at bank Credit Lyonnais in the early 1990s.
