The governors of the Luxembourg-based European Stability Mechanism will meet on Thursday.
At a press conference on Monday evening, the ESM chief spoke of “success” as he looked back to recent “tough meetings”.
Most recently, former Luxembourg finance minister Pierre Gramegna and his former counterpart from Portugal withdrew their candidacies after both failed to secure the necessary majority.
The ESM was founded 10 years ago to tackle the Euro crisis in 2012. It is an intergovernmental organisation established by member states of the euro area.
Its mission is to enable the countries of the euro area to avoid and overcome financial crises and to maintain long-term financial stability and prosperity.
For Klaus Regling “the greatest success” he wished for had been “keeping the euro area together”. He admits he leaves his position at a moment when the euro area and Europe face another crisis.
He dealt with the Greek crisis for over a decade, as ESM chief and was thus awarded with the Lord Byron International Philhellenism Award in Athens last week.
The ESM raises funds through the sale of bonds and bills. Taxpayers’ money is never used for lending to beneficiary countries.
