Pedro Sánchez’s latest risky bet has also turned out well. She kept Nadia Calviño as first vice president of the Government so that her candidacy for the presidency of the European Investment Bank (EIB) would not lose strength, knowing that, if it gave results in a short time, a government crisis would be precipitated. The Minister of Economy has also been elected by her EU peers this Friday in a race that has lasted for more months than expected, so in the not distant future Sánchez will have to make that change. Although the replacement will not be traumatic, the election of Calviño, supported by the two large countries of the EU, represents recognition of a person with a long and recognized career in the community capital, and, also, a success for the Government when accusations rain down on it. in Spain and Brussels of bankruptcy of the rule of law due to the amnesty law.
Calviño’s appointment will be official on Wednesday of next week, when the EIB board of governors is scheduled to meet to formalize its support. This body is actually made up of the same Finance Ministers who have already given their support this Friday, although as representatives of the entity’s shareholders, the Member States. When she takes office, initially on January 1, 2024, replacing the German Werner Hoyer, the Spanish first vice president will become the first woman to hold this position in the EU’s main public bank, which was created in 1958.
This victory means for Calviño to make up for her two frustrated attempts in community arenas: in 2019, when she tried to be the European candidate to be managing director of the IMF, and in 2020, the year in which she failed to be named president of the Eurogroup, against all odds. , because, like now, she was the great favorite. “It is very good news,” she declared when the result was announced, “it confirms the appreciation, respect and leadership of Spain at the European and international level.”
“We are convinced that Nadia Calviño has all the necessary qualities to lead the largest multilateral bank in the world, channeling the necessary financing to companies, and supporting investment to boost competitiveness in Europe and sustainable development,” declared the Minister of Belgian finance, Vincent Van Peteghem, when he announced the result. It was up to him to coordinate the election process as it was his turn to preside over the entity’s board of governors during these months.
His appointment to the EIB entails the departure of the Government, leaving an important gap to fill, both due to the responsibilities he occupies and his specific weight. The minister arrived five years ago to Pedro Sánchez’s first Executive as a senior European official with a technocratic profile. In this time, she has been gaining political weight without losing her technical character, becoming one of the great pillars of the Government, being time after time one of the most highly valued ministers along with the head of Defense, Margarita Robles, and the one who has been his great rival, also vice president Yolanda Díaz.
Along with the Spanish, there were four other candidates: the vice president of the European Commission, the Danish Margrethe Vestager, the former Italian Minister of Finance, Daniele Franco, and the now vice presidents of the EIB, the Polish Teresa Czerwinska and the Swede Thomas Östros. However, from the first moment only the Danish liberal was identified as Calviño’s great rival. Vestager is, without a doubt, as well known in European institutions as the Spanish minister. She has been the head of the powerful Competition portfolio since 2014 and, in addition, in the last four years she was executive vice president of the European Commission.
Calviño’s candidacy won a lot after it became clear that Pedro Sánchez had built a majority to retain the Government. A few days later, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz pledged his support. Germany is, along with France and Italy, the country with the highest percentage of capital: the three have 18.8%. The next shareholders by number of shares are Spain (11%) and then the Netherlands and Belgium, both with 5.2%.
Already on the last day of November, Belgium, the country that had all the information as coordinator of the process, anointed her as the clear favorite by sending a letter explaining to the rest of the countries that they saw that Calviño was the candidate with the most support. And that is what was confirmed this Friday, that she had more support than her main rival, the Danish Vestager. The latter, shortly after learning that the finance ministers were informally leaning towards the Spanish, announced on X, formerly Twitter, that she was withdrawing her candidacy and returning to her position in the European Commission as the head of Competition policy.
The last part of Vestager’s announcement is aimed more at the Danish public than at the European institutions themselves, as this was taken for granted if the result was what it was. During the time that her country has aspired to the presidency of the EIB, she has had to take a step back from her duties as Commissioner at the request of the President of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and this has earned her criticism in her country for leave him without representation in the community Executive.
Raise the profile
At the head of the EIB, the new president, who will have a salary of just over 370,000 euros per year, and the task of further raising the profile of an entity that the community institutions want to convert into the financing arm of investments in climate transition . In fact, the forecast is that until 2027 it can give 115,000 million in loans to invest in renewable energy, energy efficiency, charging points for electric vehicles or innovative technologies to reduce CO2 emissions.
The difficult geostrategic scenario also holds an important role for the EIB, especially in Ukraine. Since the war began, the Luxembourg-based entity has granted only 668 million, but few doubt that the moment the weapons fall silent and the reconstruction of the country begins, the bank will have a lot of prominence. In fact, one of Hoyer’s last trips was precisely to kyiv, where he reopened a bank office.
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