Top jobs up for grabs

Nominations for two important posts at the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund will top the agenda for EU finance ministers on Thursday.

And joining European leaders on Friday, ministers will try to decide how to give the European economy a shot in the arm with the 'Lisbon agenda' which aims to make Europe the most competitive economy in the world by 2010.

Ministers are due to name the successor for ECB Executive Board member Eugenio Domingo Solans who steps down on May 31.

Nominations on the table are Belgian Peter Praet, Irishman Michael Tutty and Spain's Jose Manuel Gonzalez-Paramoto.

Gonzalez-Paramoto is favoured by the EU's larger states which want to ensure permanent representation at the ECB.

But others are backing Praet, who is a widely respected central banker. And Belgium has never placed a national on the ECB board, along with Portugal, Ireland and Luxembourg.

The Spaniard's candidacy is further complicated by the opening up of the post of managing director at the IMF.

Top pick for that position is Spain's outgoing finance minister Rodrigo Rato. But recent reports suggest that Rato does not have wide support and could be dropped in favour of Jean Lemierre, head of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development or EU trade commissioner Pascal Lamy.

It is unlikely Spain could place both appointments.

Though the IMF job has traditionally gone to a European, the final choice must have global support or the search could be thrown open to other candidates.

On March 19 IMF directors issued a statement saying the goal should be to attract "the best person for the job, regardless of nationality."

On Friday finance ministers will meet with EU leaders and the Irish presidency to discuss the Lisbon agenda, which was agreed in 2000.

The European Commission has confirmed that member states are lagging seriously behind on the agenda objectives which include labour reform, investment in research and development and sustainable finances.

But the main focus for EU leaders will be to establish a working group to review how governments can achieve their targets and how the agenda will work after the ten new member states join the union in May.

This review would complement a similar exercise by the commission aiming to form a strategy for boosting the European economy in light of the failure to meet targets over the last four years.

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