Germany's Sabine Lautenschlaeger named to ECB board

(BRUSSELS) - EU member states on Tuesday named Germany's Sabine Lautenschlaeger to the all-male executive board of the European Central Bank, replacing compatriot Joerg Asmussen.

Asmussen, a strong voice of Germany's hard line on policing the eurozone through the debt crisis, leaves to become junior labour minister in Chancellor Angela Merkel's newly formed government.

The Council of EU member states "recommends the nomination of Sabine Lautenschlaeger to the executive board of the ECB," a statement said.

Lautenschlaeger, 49, is currently a vice-president in charge of overseeing credit institutions at the German central bank.

Her background will prove useful as the ECB, formally tasked with monetary policy, this year takes on a new role in supervising the banking system of the 18-member eurozone.

Tuesday's recommendation goes to the ECB and the European Parliament for approval before returning for a final say by the EU's national leaders.

The six members of the ECB executive board -- which always has a representative from economic powerhouse Germany -- serve for a single term of eight years.

The executive board sits with the central bank governors from the other eurozone member states to form the ECB governing council.

Lautenschlaeger's appointment comes after a long-running dispute with Parliament over the appointment of Luxembourg central bank chief Yves Mersch to the executive board when many MEPs wanted to see a woman get the post.

Eurozone finance ministers named Mersch in July but he was only confirmed in the position in November.

The last woman on the ECB board was Austrian Gertrude Tumpel-Gugerell between 1998 and 2011 who was replaced by Peter Praet of Belgium in preference to Slovakian Elena Kohutikova.