Bini Smaghi does not want to resign

Lorenzo Bini Smaghi, one of the three candidates to succeed Mario Draghi as director of the Bank of Italy, shows no intention of resigning from the board of the European Central Bank. This was stated by Juergen Stark, a fellow board member, at a press conference organized by the German newspaper Die Welt. The economist underlined that there is no rule that prohibits two members of the same nationality from sitting on the board of the ECB at the same time.
Bini Smaghi's response follows requests from France and Italy to hand over the post to a Frenchman when Mario Draghi becomes ECB president in November. According to some rumors, the favorites would be Ambroise Fayolle of the Monetary Fund and Benoit Coeure of the French Treasury.
The institute said on Friday that the Florentine banker will make his decision in complete autonomy. On the same day, a source reported that Bini Smaghi believes he is confident he will receive an adequate professional proposal from the Italian government to leave the board of the ECB.