ATHENS, April 5: European Union finance ministers will tell their leaders to ask European Central Bank President Wim Duisenberg to stay on until his successor was appointed, Greek finance minister Nikos Christodoulakis said on Saturday.

We have reached a unanimous position to propose to our heads of state or government to request Mr Duisenberg to stay (until) a duly elected president of the European Central Bank is appointed,” the current chairman of EU finance ministers told reporters on the sidelines of a two-day informal meeting.

He said there was also widespread backing from EU finance ministers for Austria’s deputy central bank governor Gertrude Tumpel-Gugerell to replace ECB executive board member Sirkka Hamalainen.

European Central Bank President Wim Duisenberg said on Saturday that he was “happy” to remain in his job beyond his intended retirement date on July 9 to ensure a smooth leadership succession.

I’m not going to tell anyone how long I’m going to stay. I will be president of the ECB up to and until the day my duly appointed successor takes office, Duisenberg told a news conference.

European Union finance ministers agreed during a two-day meeting here with their central bank governors to invite the Dutchman to stay in his post.

This buys time for Bank of France chief Jean-Claude Trichet, who is awaiting a June 18 verdict in the Credit Lyonnais trial in Paris in which he is charged with on his complicity in the publication of misleading accounts back in the early 1990s.

When I wrote to Spanish President Aznar announcing my decision to step down as president of the ECB on the July 9, 2002 I added a sentence to say if asked to stay on beyond that date I would stay on to ensure a smooth transition. You might say I had perfect foresight at that time, Duisenberg said.

In the interest of a smooth transition I’d be happy to continue as president for some time, he added.

Even if Trichet were cleared of the charges, officials say ECB handover procedures would not be completed in time for him to take over from Duisenberg on July 9.

There is very strong and wide support for Mrs Tumpel-Gugerell to be the successor of Mrs Hamalainen to the ECB executive board.

The ministers from the 15 EU states repeated they were cautiously optimistic about recovery later this year and were keen to improve the potential for growth through market deregulation and reform.

They worked on ways of ensuring that Dutchman Duisenberg would keep a steady hand at the helm of the ECB until September or later, until they find out whether the Frenchman due to succeed him — Jean-Claude Trichet — can actually do so.

After a first day of talks on Friday in this luxury seaside resort on the outskirts of Athens, several ministers said there was broad agreement on the need to keep Duisenberg in the job for a few months beyond July 9 — his 68th birthday — and the day he had wanted to quit.

The issue was due to be broached over lunch on Saturday.

Bank of France Governor Trichet, heir apparent under a deal struck in 1998, has to wait until June 18 to find out if he is convicted or acquitted in a Paris trial over a French financial scandal dating back to the early 1990s.

Trichet, 60, has denied charges of complicity in presenting misleading financial accounts by Credit Lyonnais bank in the early 1990s, when Lyonnais was state-owned and Trichet was in charge of the Treasury department of the French finance ministry.—Reuters