BRUSSELS, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Former Slovak central banker Elena Kohutikova and Belgian central bank Executive Director Peter Praet emerged on Monday as front-runners to join the European Central Bank's executive board.
Their candidacies were discussed by euro zone finance ministers at their monthly meeting, Eurogroup chairman Jean-Claude Juncker told a news conference.
'There was a discussion on the new member for the ECB executive board. The Austrian member is going to be replaced. We have a candidate from Slovakia, we have a candidate from Belgium. The nomination procedure will be formally launched and basically that's about it,' Juncker said.
The ECB post will become vacant when Gertrude Tumpel-Gugerell of Austria leaves in May. The final choice is expected to be made in March.
The ECB's six-strong executive board is in charge of the bank's day-to-day operations and its members also have a seat on the decision-making council, where Tumpel-Gugerell is currently the only woman.
Tumpel-Gugerell's responsibilities include payments and market infrastructure and human resources, but duties could be shuffled when the new executive board member joins the bank.
Kohutikova was at Slovakia's central bank (NBS) when the country kicked off its accession process to the euro zone, concluded in January 2009, and played a key role when entering ERM-II, which is the 'waiting room' for the euro.
Kohutikova is currently a board member of Vseobecna Uverova Banka (VUB) -- the Slovak unit of Italy's Intesa SanPaolo -- and was in charge of monetary policy issues, financial markets operations and risk management at the NBS.
The long-serving and well-experienced Praet ran last year to become the ECB's vice-president, but lost out to Vitor Constancio of Portugal.
(Reporting by Marcin Grajewski; editing by Rex Merrifield and Carol Bishopric) Keywords: ECB CANDIDATES/ (marcin.grajewski@thomsonreuters.com; +322 2876830; Reuters Messaging: marcin.grajewski.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
Their candidacies were discussed by euro zone finance ministers at their monthly meeting, Eurogroup chairman Jean-Claude Juncker told a news conference.
'There was a discussion on the new member for the ECB executive board. The Austrian member is going to be replaced. We have a candidate from Slovakia, we have a candidate from Belgium. The nomination procedure will be formally launched and basically that's about it,' Juncker said.
The ECB post will become vacant when Gertrude Tumpel-Gugerell of Austria leaves in May. The final choice is expected to be made in March.
The ECB's six-strong executive board is in charge of the bank's day-to-day operations and its members also have a seat on the decision-making council, where Tumpel-Gugerell is currently the only woman.
Tumpel-Gugerell's responsibilities include payments and market infrastructure and human resources, but duties could be shuffled when the new executive board member joins the bank.
Kohutikova was at Slovakia's central bank (NBS) when the country kicked off its accession process to the euro zone, concluded in January 2009, and played a key role when entering ERM-II, which is the 'waiting room' for the euro.
Kohutikova is currently a board member of Vseobecna Uverova Banka (VUB) -- the Slovak unit of Italy's Intesa SanPaolo -- and was in charge of monetary policy issues, financial markets operations and risk management at the NBS.
The long-serving and well-experienced Praet ran last year to become the ECB's vice-president, but lost out to Vitor Constancio of Portugal.
(Reporting by Marcin Grajewski; editing by Rex Merrifield and Carol Bishopric) Keywords: ECB CANDIDATES/ (marcin.grajewski@thomsonreuters.com; +322 2876830; Reuters Messaging: marcin.grajewski.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.