EU governments set to confirm Mersch at ECB

EU governments are expected to confirm Luxembourg's central banker in a key ECB post Monday, despite opposition from the European Parliament which wants female representation, a eurozone source said Wednesday. The council of European Union governments has given member states until Monday to lodge written objections -- and if there are none, as is the expectation, Yves Mersch would take up his new duties on the European Central Bank's six-man executive board. The job has been vacant since May, and 63-year-old Mersch's nomination -- already agreed by EU finance ministers -- has caused controversy with the EU Parliament blocking his candidacy on the grounds there are no women in the central bank's top jobs. Recognised on all sides as well qualified, European lawmakers voted against Mersch's confirmation on October 25, despite a direct plea by EU President Herman Van Rompuy for his appointment to be approved. The last woman on the ECB board was Austria's Gertrude Tumpel-Gugerell between 1998 and 2011, before she was replaced by Peter Praet of Belgium in preference to Slovakia's Elena Kohutikova.