DRAGHI CAN LEAD EUROZONE OUT OF DANGER

The eurozone was lucky to have had Mr Trichet as ECB president during the crisis. He possesses many of those qualities. Mr Weber possesses some. But he was chronically incapable of communicating compromises he did not believe in. And the way he handled his own exit from public service demonstrated an astonishing lack of political acumen.

Of the remaining candidates in public discussion, and available, there is one, and unfortunately only one, who fulfils a minimally sufficient subset of the above criteria. This is Mario Draghi, president of the Bank of Italy. He is a trained economist, with a knowledge of the global financial system in his capacity as head of the Financial Stability Board. And he is used to dealing with difficult politicians. What I find shocking about several of the other contenders is not so much that they are lacking in one or the other category – but in all of them. In terms of qualification, this is not a close contest at all. MUNCHAU
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