A key European Parliament committee voted today to support Bank of France Governor Mr Jean-Claude Trichet as next president of the European Central Bank.
The Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee voted in favour of an official opinion that Mr Trichet should succeed current ECB President Mr Wim Duisenberg due to step down on November 1st. The vote was 20 in favour of Mr Trichet, two against and four absentions.
The committee grilled Mr Trichet for more than two hours on his economic and monetary policy thinking today before moving to a vote.
The committee's opinion now goes to the full European Parliament, which is expected to give its blessing to his candidacy sometime in the coming weeks. Mr Trichet then needs a final nod from EU government leaders before succeeding Mr Duisenberg for an eight-year term.