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.