The Government has formally presented the candidacy of the First Vice President and Minister of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation, Nadia Calviño, to chair the European Investment Bank (EIB).

As 'El País' has announced this Friday, and the Ministry has reported in a statement, the Government's financial manager will be one of the candidates in contention to head this European institution, which must have a new person in charge of its presidency in January 2024.

According to the statement, it is a "strong candidacy due to the experience" of the vice president who has 12 years in the senior management of the European Commission and five years as Minister of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation, "successfully coordinating the policy economy of the Government of Spain".

Likewise, the Executive has presented her as a figure with "great prestige in the international arena."

This government election coincides with the Spanish presidency of the Council of the EU, under which a very important economic meeting will take place on Spanish soil to choose the presidency of the EIB.

The Ministers of Economy and Finance of the European Union will meet on September 15 and 16 in Santiago de Compostela to vote on who will be the president of this institution and would be formally adopted by the Board of Governors of the European Investment Bank in October. At this summit they will also meet their counterparts from the different CELAC member countries and, in parallel, the debate on fiscal rules within the community bloc will reopen.

According to the statement, Calviño's candidacy "is key" and has "the full support of the Prime Minister" and, if elected, "it would not affect her responsibilities as First Vice President of the Government of Spain, which she would serve until end of the year when he would have to occupy the position in January 2024, having also completed the Spanish presidency of the Council of the EU".

Since its founding in 1958, the Bank has had 7 presidents, all men and none Spanish. Thus, Nadia Calviño would become the first woman president of the EIB, "a milestone for the institution and for Spain", highlights the Executive.

In Brussels, one of Calviño's main rivals is the vice-president of the European Commission in charge of Competition, Margrethe Vestager, who has been stomping on to replace the until now president of the EIB, Werner Hoyer.

In the same way, it is known to date (there is a deadline until August 17 to formalize the candidacies) that the Spanish minister will have three other competitors. These are the former Italian Finance Minister under Mario Draghi, Daniele Franco, Teresa Czerwinska and Thomas Östros. These last two names, from Poland and Sweden, respectively, currently hold the vice-presidency of the EIB.

Nadia Calviño has previously held various positions within the European Commission and also at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), where she continues to be President of the International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC). She was appointed to the latter position in December 2021.

Likewise, since she is part of the Government of Spain, she was proposed in her category of Minister of Economy to preside over the Eurogroup last summer of 2020. On that occasion, however, she was left without obtaining the necessary votes to occupy a position that fell in the hands of the Irishman Paschal Donohoe.