BERLIN (MNI) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel is hesitating
endorsing Bank of Italy Governor Mario Draghi as the next ECB president
because she wants to wrest concessions in return, German weekly Der
Spiegel reported over the weekend without citing its sources.

According to the magazine, Merkel could demand that German Deputy
Finance Minister Joerg Asmussen become the next chair of the European
Economic and Finance Committee, which prepares the Ecofin and Eurogroup
meetings. She could also request that the new Bundesbank President Jens
Weidmann take Draghi’s position as chair of the Financial Stability
Board.

The Chancellor could also try to win concessions in the ongoing
negotiations over the European Stabilisation Mechanism (ESM), Der
Spiegel wrote.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, however, has already
resigned himself to the fact that Draghi will become the next ECB
president, the magazine reported, saying that Schaeuble believes there
is nobody else who matches Draghi’s qualifications.

German daily Bild on Friday cited German government sources saying
that Merkel had decided to back Draghi. Germany wants to support “the
most German of all remaining candidates,” and Draghi is clearly that
candidate, the paper quoted one source as saying.

However, German government spokesman Steffen Seibert said on Friday
that the government’s stance had not changed and that it will make clear
which candidate it supports “in time,” ahead of the European Council
meeting in June, when the successor to incumbent ECB president
Jean-Claude Trichet is to be decided.

Last Tuesday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy endorsed Draghi at a
joint press conference in Rome with Italian Prime Minister Silvio
Berlusconi.

Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, who chairs the
Eurogroup, also implicitly endorsed the Italian central bank chief on
Thursday, saying, “I don’t see notable differences between what
[Sarkozy] said and what I think.”

–Berlin bureau: +49-30-22 62 05 80; email: twidder@marketnews.com

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