The German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, informed the acting President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, of his country’s support for the acting First Vice President, Nadia Calviño, to preside over the European Investment Bank (EIB), sources from the Executive.
Scholz has guaranteed this support in the meeting he held with Sánchez in Malaga within the framework of the Congress that the European Socialist Party is holding in this Andalusian city.
Calviño is competing for the presidency of the EIB with the former vice president of the European Commission Margrethe Vestager, the former Italian Finance Minister Daniele Franco, and two of the current vice presidents of the EIB: the Polish Teresa Czerwinska and the Swede Thomas Ostros.
To be elected, candidates need the support of 18 EU Member States representing at least 68% of EIB capital.
In practice, to obtain the support of that 68% of the shareholders, the support of at least two of the three large countries is necessary, Germany, France and Italy, which each have 18.78% of the capital, thus controlling the . only 56.4% of it. Spain follows them with 11.27% of the capital.
Hence the importance of Scholz having communicated to the President of the Government his country’s support for Calviño.
States urge
This same week, Belgium, the country leading the process to elect the new president of the European Investment Bank, urged a decision to be made and called France and Germany to clarify which candidate they will support.
After that call from Belgium, Calviño, in statements to journalists, refused to comment on the position of the rest of the countries and the support it has, but insisted that it is a “strong” candidacy and that it has “strong support.”
The election of who will lead the EIB must be taken in the coming weeks so that the new president of this institution can already occupy the position from January 1, 2024.
When Calviño’s candidacy was made public last August, the first vice president highlighted the importance of Spain aspiring to this position in an entity that she described as strategic for the country and for the European Union.
He also highlighted the fundamental role of the EIB in financing public and private investments, and said that his candidacy was “a strong bet” to obtain that presidency and that if he had presented a different time it would have been “giving up the battle as lost.”