As part of the restructuring of the ECB's executive board, executive nominees Schnabel and Fabio Panetta will take office in early January. At that time, the new president of the European Central Bank, Lagarde, will reallocate the responsibilities of six members of the Executive Committee.
Whoever is in charge of the ECB's market operations will have the opportunity to influence its trillions of euros bond buying program and have a strong voice on key issues such as which bonds the ECB can buy and the duration of the purchase.
The showdown between Schnabel and Panetta will continue a long-standing feud between Germany and Italy over their influence on the ECB. Under the leadership of former Italian president Mario Draghi, the European Central Bank abandoned German orthodoxy and adopted a large-scale stimulus policy with the Federal Reserve as the vanguard.
Both Mr. Schnabel and Panetta want to be in charge of monetary policy within the ECB, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter. At present, the European Central Bank is injecting more funds into the financial system in order to boost inflation in the eurozone.
Spokesmen for Schnabel, Panetta and the ECB declined to comment on this article.
They all supported the ECB's latest round of stimulus measures in a written response to questions from the European Parliament released on Friday. The European Parliament will hold its confirmation hearing next week.
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