PURPOSE: appointment of a member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank.

NON-LEGISLATIVE ACT: European Council Decision (EU) 2019/508 appointing a member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank.

CONTENT: the term of office of Mr Peter PRAET, member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank, expires on 31 May 2019. A new member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank is therefore be appointed.

Pursuant to this Decision, Mr Philip R. LANE is hereby appointed a member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank for a term of office of eight years with effect from 1 June 2019.

ENTRY INTO FORCE: 22.3.2019.

The European Parliament decided, by 284 votes to 182, with 84 abstentions, to give a favourable opinion on the Council's recommendation to appoint Philip R. Lane as a member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank.

By letter of 14 February 2019, the Council consulted the European Parliament on the nomination of Philip R. Lane as a member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank for an eight-year term of office, with effect from 1 June 2019.

Parliament regretted that the European Parliament and the European Council had not taken seriously its repeated requests to remedy the lack of gender balance in the ECB's Executive Board and demanded that it be respected in the next nomination. It called on all bodies and institutions of the Union and the Member States to implement concrete measures to ensure gender balance.

The Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs adopted the report by Roberto GUALTIERI (S&D, IT) on the Council recommendation on the appointment of a Member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank.

By letter of 14 February 2019, the European Council consulted Parliament on the nomination of Mr Philip R. Lane as Member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank for a term of office of eight years, with effect from 1 June 2019.

The committee then proceeded to evaluate the credentials of the nominee. The committee subsequently held a hearing with the nominee on 26 February 2019, at which he made an opening statement and then responded to questions from the members of the committee.

On this basis, the committee recommended that the European Parliament d eliver a favourable opinion on the Council recommendation to appoint Philip R. LANE (IE) as Member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank.

It is important to note that despite the numerous requests made by the European Parliament to the Council to readdress the lack of gender balance within the ECB Executive Board, this has not been taken seriously. The committee called for this request to be respected for the next nomination.