Germany must fight to get Weber named ECB chief: Juncker
(FRANKFURT) - Germany will have to battle to get its central bank governor Axel Weber named as the European Central Bank's next president, the head of the eurozone finance ministers warned on Tuesday.
Monday's nomination of Portuguese central bank chief Vitor Constancio as the next ECB vice president does not automatically mean that Weber will replace Jean-Claude Trichet as head of the powerful European institution next year, Jean-Claude Juncker told Deutschlandfunk radio.
"Germany is going to have to fight" for Weber to get the position, he added.
Juncker slammed as "short-sighted" the view that because the ECB vice president comes from a southern European country, a northern candidate would automatically get the nod for president.
"I would not automatically push for Germany to get the post of ECB president," he told Deutschlandfunk.
Another undeclared candidate for ECB president after Trichet steps down in October 2011 is Italian central bank governor Mario Draghi, but the nomination of Constancio as vice president appears to have damaged the Italian's chances.
Top European Union positions often reflect a geographical balance between EU members.
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