Sarkozy: Bini Smaghi resigns, too many Italians on the ECB board

The President of the French Republic Nicolas Sarkozy in a joint press conference in Berlin with the German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke on the Draghi-Bini Smaghi issue to the ECB board.
Sarkozy said he is sure that Italy will be able to respect the commitment made to cede the place of Lorenzo Bini Smaghi in the executive committee of the European Central Bank to France in exchange for Paris' support for the appointment of Mario Draghi as president.
"Having two out of six Italians on the executive committee would not be very European - said the French president today - Italy has given its word and I have no reason to doubt it".
Just yesterday Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi had received Palazzo Chigi Bini Smaghi to ask him "spontaneously and responsibly for a step back, resigning in the name of the principle of European solidarity".
No comments have yet been received either from the ECB or from Bini Smaghi, who before the meeting with Berlusconi had stated that the principles of independence of the ECB guarantee the permanence of the members of its decision-making bodies in office for the entire pre-established period, protecting them "against their revocation arbitrary".