Mersch has pipped rival Spanish candidate Antonio Sainz de Vicuna for an upcoming seat on the ECB’s six-member executive board, the newspaper said, quoting eurozone sources.

Eurozone finance ministers will officially approve the nomination at a meeting in Copenhagen on Friday and Saturday, it added.

The seat is currently occupied by another Spaniard, Jose Manuel Gonzalez-Paramo who steps down at the end of May.

The nomination of a replacement is a sensitive one, since it comes at a time when a raft of top EU positions are also becoming free, all coveted by a number of member countries.

After the policy-setting governing council, the executive board is the most important decision-making body within the ECB and is responsible for the day-to-day running of the central bank.