BRUSSELS, Nov 26 - European Union president Italy proposed on Wednesday amending the bloc's draft constitution to allow for future top executives of the European Central Bank to be appointed by majority voting instead of unanimity. Under current rules, the president, vice-president and the other four members of the Executive Board which manages the euro single currency are appointed by "common accord". But a draft compromise circulated to EU member states three weeks before a crucial Brussels summit due to approve a new rulebook for an enlarged 25-nation bloc said the ECB's six top officials should be appointed by the European Council of EU leaders on the basis of qualified majority voting. The EU treaty already provides for the president of the executive European Commission to be appointed by majority voting in a bid to prevent gridlock.
The requirement that ECB Executive Board members be chosen by common accord of governments has led to some political bickering as small states assert their power. Belgium has twice put forward an unsuccessful ECB candidate and used it as a bargaining point in meetings. The draft also said that any decision to give the ECB a supervisory role over banks and other financial institutions would require unanimous EU approval. ECB policymakers have argued that as guardians of financial stability, they have an important role to play in overseeing financial services which can give them greater insight into the operations of banking and credit institutions. Some national central banks such as Spain's already have bank supervisory responsibility in their own countries. The U.S. Federal Reserve is sometimes cited as a model. It is regulator for bank holding companies and its supervisors even have offices in major New York institutions. But the EU has opted for a less formal role in banking supervision for the ECB.//