Spain keen to keep presence on ECB's executive board

Spain will propose Antonio Sáinz de Vicuña to replace José Manuel González Páramo on the six-member executive board of the European Central Bank, an Economy Ministry source said Wednesday.

The source said Sáinz de Vicuña's name will be put forward at a meeting of euro-zone finance ministers scheduled for next Monday.

González Páramo's mandate in the executive board is due to end in May. He has been touted as a possible replacement for the current governor of the Bank of Spain, Miguel Ángel Fernández Ordóñez.

Sáinz de Vicuña has headed the ECB's legal department since 1998. He held the same post at the ECB's predecessor, the European Monetary Institute.

He is also chairman of the European Financial Markets Group and is vice chairman of the Committee on International Monetary Law.

Spain is keen to maintain a presence in the ECB executive board but faces keen competition from northern euro-zone member countries such as the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Finland, which still maintain the highest sovereign credit ratings.

The ECB's board is currently presided by Italian Mario Draghi who recently took over from France's Jean-Calude Trichet, while his deputy is Vítor Constâncio, the former governor of the Bank of Portugal. The other members include two Germans - Peter Praet and Jörg Asmussen - and Benoît Couré, who is French. During an official visit to Spain on Monday French President Nicolas Sarkozy said he would back Spain's push to have a continuing presence on the ECB's core management board.

One factor in Spain's favor is that it accounts for 11 percent of the euro-zone's GDP.