The Spanish government announced today the candidacy of its Economy Minister, Nadia Calviño, to chair the European Investment Bank (EIB).
“It is a great honor and pride that our country can present a strong candidacy and have the maximum options for, for the first time in our history, having the presidency of the EIB,” Calviño said today in the city of Cádiz, in statements to the press cited by Agence France Presse.
Likewise, the official highlighted “the remarkable strength” of the Spanish economy and was in favor of “maintaining until the end of the year the reduction and even the elimination of VAT on basic food items”, thus aiming to remedy the rise in the cost of life that affects your country and the rest of Europe.
Calviño, who also officiates as acting first vice president of the Spanish government, will compete, among others, with the European Commissioner for Competition, Margrethe Vestager, proposed by her country, Denmark, as well as candidates from Italy, Poland and Sweden.
The replacement for the German Werner Hoyer at the head of the institution will be decided in mid-September at an informal meeting of the European Ministers of Economy and Finance (Ecofin), in the Spanish city of Santiago de Compostela.
The EIB, created in 1958 and headquartered in Luxembourg, is the European equivalent of the Inter-American Investment Bank (IDB).
Financed through the issuance of bonds in the capital market, the bank, dependent on the European Union, supports projects of all kinds, including the environment, small and medium-sized companies, health emergencies, gender equality, urban planning and energy resources and natural.
Calviño, 54, is an economist with extensive experience in the European institutions, for which she worked from 2006 until she became Minister of Economic Affairs of the Spanish government in 2018.
In 2019, she was considered as one of the potential candidates to replace Christine Lagarde as managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
However, she decided to withdraw from the race in the first round of voting and, finally, the Bulgarian Kristalina Georgieva was elected.
In 2020, meanwhile, Spain nominated Calviño to preside over the Eurogroup, losing to the Irish candidate Paschal Donohoe.
In addition to being in charge of the Ministry of Economy, the official has held the first vice presidency of the government headed by the socialist Pedro Sánchez since 2021, who in negotiations to form a government after last month’s elections, was questioned by the opposition Popular Party (PP ).
“It seems that he is beginning to relocate his ministers in view of the fact that he will not have enough support to be invested,” the general coordinator of the PP, Elías Benodo, told the media today, according to the DPA agency.
Benodo pointed out that Calviño’s presentation is a “democratic anomaly” since he assessed that Sánchez should have called the PP candidate, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, to discuss this matter.
Source: Ambito
