Italian Lorenzo Bini Smaghi should step down from the European central bank board if fellow countryman Mario Draghi is named new president, finance minister Jan Kees de Jager is quoted as saying in the Financieele Dagblad.

His place should be taken by a French national and the board should eventually be strengthened by a Dutchman, Finn of Austrian otherwise too many representatives from weaker economies countries will be on the board, the paper quotes De Jager as saying.
‘An Italian will have to go because there is already an Italian on the board and he should be replaced by at least a French national,’ De Jager said.
Draghi was unanimously nominated for the job by finance ministers.
The paper says De Jager said last week he is concerned about the imbalance between northern and southern European countries on the board.
Just six EU countries have a triple A rating – Germany, France, Netherlands, Austria, Luxemburg and Finland. But at the moment, only two of the six-man board come from triple A countries.
Current president Jean-Claude Trichet will stand down in October.