FRANKFURT (Reuters) – MEPs on the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee (ECON) approved on Wednesday the appointment of Claudia Buch as head of European banking supervision, removing a major obstacle before a final vote in the European Parliament expected in October .
Claudia Buch, who has been vice-president of the German central bank for ten years, was chosen last week over Margarita Delgado, the Spanish candidate favored by the European Parliament, to succeed the Italian Andrea Enria for a five-year mandate as head of banking supervision at the European Central Bank (ECB).
During his hearing by the European Parliament’s ECON committee on Wednesday, some MEPs raised objections to the legality of his appointment or his qualifications.
Jonás Fernández, a Spanish socialist, said the ECB may have broken a rule barring it from choosing a candidate from its own governing council, where Claudia Buch is an alternate member to Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel.
The ECB responded in a legal opinion seen by Reuters that Claudia Buch, as an alternate, was not a member of the governing council and therefore this rule did not apply to her.
During the hearing, Claudia Buch said she would immediately resign from her role as deputy if named chief supervisor.
Marco Zanni, of the right-wing Identity and Democracy group, asked Claudia Buch how she planned to remedy her “limited experience” as a banking supervisor, compared to the other candidate.
Claudia Buch, 57, recalled her ten years as a member of the Bundesbank board responsible for financial stability, during which she worked closely with bank supervisory authorities and managed “many difficult situations”.
To another question, Claudia Buch replied that the creation of a common European deposit insurance was crucial, breaking with Germany’s long-standing skepticism towards an initiative that would see financial resources put together to save depositors throughout the Union.
(Reporting Francesco Canepa and Balazs Koranyi, Corentin Chappron, edited by Blandine Hénault)
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