Minister Donohoe welcomes support for the nomination of the Governor of the Central Bank of Ireland to ECB Executive Board

12th February, 2019

The Minister for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform, Paschal Donohoe TD, today (Tuesday) welcomed the formal adoption of a recommendation by ECOFIN to appoint Professor Philip Lane, Governor of the Central Bank of Ireland for a position on the Executive Board of the European Central Bank. The matter was discussed by Ministers at Eurogroup yesterday (Monday) and ECOFIN agreed their recommendation to the European Council earlier today.

Minister Donohoe stated: “I am very pleased that my colleagues at Eurogroup and ECOFIN were able to support Governor Lane for the position on the Executive Board of the ECB.

This is an important next step in the process, and I am looking forward to the European Parliament and the European Central Bank delivering their opinions on Professor Lane’s candidacy, in advance of the European Council next month.

Philip is a remarkably well qualified candidate and I am confident he would step up to the challenging post if appointed”. 

ENDS

Notes for Editors

The term of the incumbent, Peter Praet, ends on the 31st of May 2019. ECOFIN adopted a formal recommendation to the European Council regarding the appointment of his successor on the 12th of February. The European Parliament and European Central Bank will now deliver opinions on the recommendation with the final consideration of the appointment scheduled for the European Council on the 21st of March.

The new Executive Board member will take up their post on the 1st of June 2019.

 

Biography of Philip Lane

Philip R. Lane is Whately Professor of Political Economy (on leave) at Trinity College Dublin. He is Governor of the Central Bank of Ireland and sits on the ECB Governing Council. He is an ex-officio member of the General Board, Chair of the Advisory Technical Committee and Steering Committee of the ESRB.  He received his PhD in Economics from Harvard in 1995 and was Assistant Professor of Economics and International Affairs at Columbia University during 1995-1997 before returning to Dublin.

His research interests include financial globalisation, macroeconomics of exchange rates and capital flows, macroeconomic policy design and European monetary integration.  His work has been published in the American Economic Review, Review of Economics and Statistics, Journal of Economic Perspectives, Journal of International Economics, NBER Macroeconomics Annual and many other journals.

In 2001, he was the inaugural recipient of the German Bernacer Award in Monetary Economics for outstanding contributions to European monetary economics; in 2010, he was co-recipient of the Bhagwati Prize from the Journal of International Economics. He is a research fellow of the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR); he was previously the Director of its International Macroeconomics and Finance Programme.

He has also acted as an academic consultant for the European Central Bank, European Commission, International Monetary Fund, World Bank, OECD, Asian Development Bank and a number of national central banks. He is also a member of the Royal Irish Academy.