BRUSSELS – Spain’s Finance Minister Nadia Calviño will become the next head of the European Investment Bank after EU countries agreed on Friday morning to her appointment, according to two EU officials.
After a contest lasting several months, Calviño saw off the challenge of Margrethe Vestager, who took leave from her job as the EU digital and competition chief. She is scheduled to start at the Luxembourg-based bank on January 1, the expiry date of current chief Werner Hoyer.
The political blessing from the EU’s 27 finance ministers came at a meeting in Brussels after they had already spent much of the night discussing the EU’s overhaul of national spending rules.
The new EIB chief will be in charge of funneling billions of euros of loans to big infrastructure projects across Europe and play a key role in rebuilding Ukraine and providing climate financing in the years ahead.
As POLITICO revealed last week, Calviño received a major boost when Van Peteghem endorsed her bid in a letter to EU finance ministers last Friday and gave them time until Monday to put forward their objections.