EP committee recommends Mario Draghi for ECB PresidentJune 15, 2011 - 16:30 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Mario Draghi was recommended to succeed Jean-Claude Trichet as ECB President in an Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee vote on Wednesday June 15. The committee opinion - 33 in favour, 2 against and 4 abstentions - now needs to be confirmed by a vote of Parliament as a whole, scheduled for June 23, according to EP official website. Although the parliament has no formal role in choosing a successor to Jean-Claude Trichet and as such could not have blocked the appointment of the Italian banker and economist, its support is symbolically important. Trichet, who will step down in October, has urged the parliament to back his line on introducing tighter economic controls across the euro zone. In an at times heated exchange with parliamentarians on Tuesday, Draghi said swap operations Goldman Sachs conducted for the Greek government were undertaken before he joined the bank, where he worked from 2002 to 2006, Reuters reported. Top stories Yerevan has dismissed Turkey’s demand to shut down the Armenian nuclear power plant as “inappropriate”. Armenia will loan 2.9 billion drams to Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh), according to a draft government decision. The Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Azerbaijan has “strongly condemned” Armenia’s decision. Kerobyan has said that for the first time in the history of Armenia, the volume of foreign direct investments amounted to about $1 billion. Partner news | Kazakhstan welcomes Yerevan, Baku’s agreement to meet in Almaty Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has welcomed the agreement of Baku and Yerevan to hold negotiations in Almaty. Armenia offers to temporarily host, preserve Gaza manuscripts The Armenian Foreign Minister has said Yerevan is ready to help preserve manuscripts from the conflict zone in Gaza. Aliyev says no need for mediators in Armenia-Azerbaijan process Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev believes that Baku and Yerevan do not mediators in the process of normalizing relations. Aram I supports Karekin II’s “patriotic position” Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia Aram I has expressed support for the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin. |