Pierre Gramagnea, Luxembourg’s former finance minister, heads the European Stability Mechanism.
The former Luxembourg Finance Minister, Pierre Gramagnea, was elected today to head the European Stability Mechanism, the rescue fund for the eurozone, after a months-long standoff between the member states of the Eurogroup.
The association said in a statement that Gramnia (64 years old) will take office on December 1 and will have a five-year term.
He succeeds German Klaus Regling, who for ten years led the fund, which was established in 2012 in the midst of the financial crisis. Riegling’s term ended on October 7, and his duties were temporarily filled by Christoph Frankl.
For months, the 19 eurozone finance ministers were unable to agree on Regling’s succession. Graminia received support from Germany, while France and Italy supported former Portuguese Finance Minister Joao Liao. Both were forced out of the race last month after neither of them received the required 80% of the vote. Graminha eventually returned—and won the post—after the French and Italian governments dropped their objections to him.
