MEPs to quiz Papademos on Monday
BRUSSELS – Greek central bank Governor Lucas Papademos must show on Monday he is ready and willing to stand up to the very European finance ministers who picked him to be the next European Central Bank vice president. The European Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee wants Papademos to mount a staunch defense of ECB independence when it vets him as part of a formal process set in motion last week when he was chosen to succeed Christian Noyer. At a time when inflation is running above the ECB’s self-imposed ceiling and oil poses new price risks, Papademos will be quizzed on European economic prospects and how he would deal with any political pressure to delay interest rate rises. «We are at a difficult point in the economic cycle, and the ECB’s role is very important,» said Othmar Karas, an Austrian member of the center-right European People’s Party who sits on the committee which will grill Papademos at 3 p.m. local time on Monday. «For my group, it is always very important to have an independent ECB.» The committee will vote on Tuesday on a recommendation which it will send to the plenary session of the Parliament for a further vote on May 14. Parliament’s recommendation, along with the endorsement which the ECB gave Papademos on Thursday, will be sent for final confirmation to the EU leaders, who must finish formalities by the end of May, when Noyer steps down. «I will want to hear how he would face up to Ecofin and resolve these tensions,» said Peter Skinner, a British Labor Party member of the European Parliament who serves on EMAC. Papademos will have answers ready and can also point to his track record. He has years of central banking experience in Greece, the United States and at the European level, and is credited with running a monetary policy that stifled Greece’s rampant inflation and steered the country into the eurozone. Hands-on experience – lacked by his rival for the ECB job, Belgian academic and politician Paul De Grauwe – is vital, parliamentarians said. «For me, he was definitely the right candidate of the two and all that I have heard suggests he is the perfect person,» said Karas.
