As governor, Moulin would have a seat on the ECB’s main decision-making board, the governing council.
Coquerel, his fellow France Unbowed lawmakers and those from the Greens and the far-right National Rally have publicly criticized Moulin’s nomination, and are expected to vote against confirmation.
National Rally lawmaker and finance committee member Matthias Renault said he opposed the choice due to the nominee’s proximity to Macron and former Economy and Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire, for whom Moulin served as chief of staff. Renault’s party sees Moulin as one of the key architects of an economic policy they say has hobbled France with trillions of euros worth of debt.
French President Emmanuel Macron’s move appears less controversial in Frankfurt and Brussels. | Magali Cohen/AFP via Getty Images
By themselves, however, the Greens, France Unbowed and the National Rally don’t have enough votes to stop Moulin. The secret nature of the vote could play in their favor, as there’s nothing stopping lawmakers from disobeying party voting instructions. But a successful veto requires the support of three-fifths of the members of both committees — a relatively high bar.
The Socialist Party, whose members met with Moulin Wednesday behind closed doors, has not yet announced a position.
“We are torn between the objective qualifications of Mr. Moulin, who ticks all the boxes, and the fact that this is the first time someone so close to a head of state has so quickly secured a strategic position within the Bank of France,” a Socialist senator said earlier last week.