ECB Could Get First Female Leader on French Suggestion to EU

(Bloomberg) -- The European Central Bank could be headed for its first-ever female president as European Union leaders haggle over top policy positions.

France considers the ECB presidency as a viable target and would prefer that a woman gets the role, according to a person familiar with the matter, who said there are several French women suitably qualified including International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde.

Other names floated in past include Bank of France Deputy Governor Sylvie Goulard, and OECD Chief Economist Laurence Boone. Another option might be Odile Renaud Basso, head of the French treasury.

France isn't actively promoting its ECB candidates at this point. That piece of the jigsaw will depend on the prospects for another Frenchman, Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier, to become head of the commission. It also has to get through the European Parliament.

Read more: Ten Women for the ECB Top Table If EU Leaders Serious on Gender

EU leaders met through the night to negotiate a suite of top posts, but failed to reach agreement on a package that would see Dutch Socialist Frans Timmermans lead the commission. Leaders will resume their efforts on Tuesday morning in Brussels, extending the marathon into a third day.

The candidates under discussion for the other main political posts, including the head of the council of leaders and the foreign policy chief, likely wouldn't include any French people, leaving French President Emmanuel Macron in pole position to claim the ECB job.

Heading into the summit on Sunday, Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel said leaders should commit to a female central bank chief. Italy is also said to favor putting a French woman in charge of euro-zone monetary policy, according to another official familiar with the matter.

Despite being a lawyer rather than an economist, Lagarde “would be a very good fit for the position, were she to be interested,” said Peter Dixon, an economist at Commerzbank in London. “She'd be very competent.”

The French proposal could mute resistance to the nation gaining the ECB leadership for the second time. Jean-Claude Trichet was ECB chief from 2003-2011. So far all the contenders seen as having the best chance of being nominated were men, including Bundesbank president Jens Weidmann and Bank of France Governor Francois Villeroy de Galhau.

--With assistance from Catherine Bosley, John Follain and Alessandro Speciale.

To contact the reporter on this story: Helene Fouquet in Paris at hfouquet1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ben Sills at bsills@bloomberg.net, Paul Gordon, Zoe Schneeweiss

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