 |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
| RPT-INTERVIEW-ECB should postpone new voting system-Liebscher |
| ECB, 22.09.2008 |
|
| VIENNA, Aug 21 (Reuters) - The European Central Bank should defer introducing a new rotational voting system, which is due to kick in with Slovakia's euro entry, until more nations join the euro zone, outgoing Governing Council member Klaus Liebscher told Reuters.
Liebscher, who retires from the Austrian central bank on Aug. 31, said policymakers would decide in coming months on whether to start circulating voting rights in January, when Slovakia becomes the 16th country to adopt the euro, or wait.
At the moment, all 15 national central bank governors who sit on the ECB's Governing Council have a vote, along with the six Frankfurt-based Executive Board members.
But the number of votes for governors is currently capped at 15, meaning Slovakia's entry should trigger a complex rotational voting system unless two-thirds of the 21-member Council agree to defer it until the euro zone swells to 19 members or more.
"I never made a secret that, for me, it is something which was obviously unavoidable but not necessary," Liebscher told Reuters in an interview on Thursday.
"When and whether it will start, will depend on the Governing Council decision and we have the possibility of postponing," he said. "My personal advice would be to postpone."
The decision should be made "in the next couple of months," he said. Traditionally the Governing Council discusses interest rates at the first meeting of the month and reserves the mid-month meeting for administrative and other issues.
Under the new system, countries will be ranked according to the size of their economy and financial sector. If it is introduced next year, the five "big" countries will keep a vote each, while the smaller ones will have to share 10 votes.
That would mean one of the smaller nations, such as Austria, would be left out initially, while all the others would vote.
Once there are more than 19 nations sharing the euro, the big five countries will share four votes between them and the small ones will share the remaining 11 seats. When euro zone membership hits 21, a three-tier system comes into play.
An ECB spokeswoman said a decision on the introduction of the rotational voting system was due by the end of the year.
Liebscher will be succeeded by former BAWAG P.S.K. Chief Executive and lawmaker Ewald Nowotny.
(Reporting by Karin Strohecker and Marc Jones, writing by Karin Strohecker, editing by Swaha Pattanaik) Keywords: ECB/LIEBSCHER ROTATION
tf.TFN-Europe_newsdesk@thomsonreuters.com jlw
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Address : Euro-Brew Ltd., Hlboká 22, 917 01 Trnava, Slovakia
Tel. : +421 33 53 418 53, Fax : +421 33 53 418 52, E-mail : info@eurobrew.sk |
|
|
