Nadia Calviño is the candidate with the most support to preside over the European Investment Bank (EIB). This is the conclusion reached by the Belgian Minister of Finance, Vincent Van Peteghem, responsible for the selection process, and this is what he will communicate tomorrow to the holders of Economy of the Twenty-Seven, as confirmed by La Vanguardia through sources diplomatic
The position, more coveted than ever, will become vacant on January 1 and the Government of Pedro Sánchez decided to bet hard on it by presenting the candidacy of the vice-president in July. At that time, there were four candidates in contention (the Polish Teresa Czerwińska, the Italian Daniele Franco, the Swedish Thomas Östros and the Danish Margrethe Vestager) and the race was leaning in favor of the latter, holder of the portfolio of Competence of the European Commission. The negotiations soon made it clear that Calviño and Vestager had the most support, but the strict rules for electing the president, who needs the support of a majority of countries (18) representing at least 68% of the bank's capital they led to a deadlock situation, aggravated by the fact that none of the other countries wanted to withdraw their candidates.
The announcement by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, after a meeting with Sánchez in Malaga on December 10, that Berlin would support Calviño tipped the balance in favor of the Spaniard, but not definitively, as France s 'he has kept his cards at all times. Belgium, the country that holds the rotating presidency of the board of directors of the EIB, concluded, however, last Friday that, in view of consultations, the first vice-president of the Spanish Government was the one with the most support and sent a letter to the ministries of Economy of the Twenty-seven in which he recommended endorsing his candidacy.
That communication, which was intended to have countries with no-choice candidates withdraw them from the race, set in motion a silence procedure that expired on Monday. And the conclusion of Minister Van Peteghem is that Calviño has enough support to be elected president and he will communicate this tomorrow Friday to his colleagues at the working breakfast they plan to hold in Brussels, as confirmed by this newspaper from diplomatic sources , with a view to formalizing his appointment.
According to domestic diplomatic sources, the ministers are not expected to take a vote, but the way Belgium has handled the selection process has sparked protests. Both Rome and Warsaw, two of the delegations that have presented candidates for the position, are critical of how the consultations have been managed and could question Van Peteghem's proposal.
Other delegations, however, consider the criticism of Belgium unfair, as the EIB's rules do not detail how the selection process should be carried out, beyond setting the basic criteria that candidates must meet and the level of support they must raise.
The theoretically imminent departure of Calviño from the Spanish Government - the current president of the EIB, the German Werner Hoyer, retires on December 31 and has made it clear that he does not want to extend his mandate in any way - will force an internal restructuring of the Government in the field of vice-presidencies. Sánchez said a few days ago in an interview with La Ser that Calviño's departure will be a "huge loss" and said that, after a "transition" period that could last a few "months", he will make public what the person chosen to take over.
Founded in 1958, the European Investment Bank has a balance sheet of 547,000 million euros and is considered the world's largest multilateral lender. Historically, the entity has played a crucial role in financing large projects that the private sector may be reluctant to support. The accelerated energy transition in which the EU is immersed promises an even more relevant role in the medium and long term, since it is also counted on to finance the reconstruction of Ukraine. Just yesterday it granted a loan of 550 million euros to Adif to expand the capacity of two of Madrid's train stations, Atocha and Chamartín.
