Three members of the European Parliament’s Economics and Finance Committee sent the following on Wednesday: a letter to Christine Lagarde for the President of the European Central Bank to comment on the independence of Mário Centeno as Governor of the Bank of Portugal
These Members of the European Parliament believe that “there can be no doubt about the independence of the institution”. Although the Bank of Portugal’s ethics committee has already commented on the case, they want to “better understand the basis on which this assessment was made” and now hope that the European Central Bank will also give its assessment of Mário Centeno.
DN heard in Brussels one of the signatories of the letter to Christine Lagarde, MEP Siegfried Mureşan, vice-president of the PPE.
“We have written a letter to the President of the European Central Bank, Christine Lagarde, about the developments surrounding the Governor of the Portuguese National Bank, Mr Centeno, because we are concerned about the independence of the central bank in Portugal,” he says. said.
The MEP states that there are doubts among some deputies of the European Parliament’s Economics and Finance Committee about Centeno’s conditions to remain as governor of the Bank of Portugal.
“We question Mr. Centeno’s ability to perform his duties independently, given his political affiliations and interferences and possible involvement in the near future,” he said.
The MEP states that the three signatories of the letter – a Spanish woman, a German man and himself, with Romanian nationality – give European space to a case that he wants to see dealt with, not only by the ethics committee of the Bank of Portugal, but at the highest level of the ECB.
“We expect any ethics committee to make a serious and objective assessment, and I understand that this assessment has been made. Now we will try to better understand on what basis it was made and we expect an assessment from the European Central Bank based on the powers that the ECB has, and we hope that this assessment will be exhaustive,” asks Siegfried Mureșan, hoping “that Parliament will be informed immediately”.
“This assessment must be of the utmost credibility so that the ECB can continue to exercise its responsibilities without any doubt as to the independence of the ECB or of any of the members who, in their capacity as presidents of national banks, take decisions on the top level. the level of the ECB,” he considered.
The MEPs, all members of the European People’s Party, the political family of the PSD and the CDS, expect a response from the European Central Bank within “a few weeks”, according to Siegfried Mureșan.
Source: DN
