Super Mario

When I first wrote about Mario Draghi, in September 2009, he was such a little known figure that it was difficult to get a photograph of him, except one with a lady I supposed to be his wife (sorry, with all this scandal about I should make it clear that I am not trying to say that she is a prostitute or a hotel chambermaid, only that they are together in the picture and I didn’t know what his wife looked like, either. Phew!)

Now of course, photographs of Draghi are everywhere. This one shows him after a night out with fellow central bankers in the via Veneto having stolen a helmet from one of the Italian Presidential Guard (no, sorry, I made that up).

It seems Super Mario has got the support of the people who matter (Merkel, Sarkozy) to become the replacement for Jean Claude Trichet at the European Central Bank.

There was initially opposition to his candidacy because he was Italian, officials whispering that they couldn’t be represented by someone from a country with such a casual attitude to monetary control. I think this shows just how far Europe has come since 1957 (no distance at all). Draghi is however the best candidate, and in my view will do the job well.

My reservations are two. The first is that he might be needed back in Italy for whatever happens post-Berlusconi. My dream team would be Luca Cordera di Montezemolo, Emma Marcegaglia (head of the Italian CBI) and Mario Draghi.

The second reservation is that he is perhaps Europe’s last serious candidate for the replacement to Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who has resigned as head of the IMF. Gordon Brown is of course ruled out for conspicuous incompetence, and would not be supported by is own country, and Christine Lagarde, the French Finance Minister, is, well, French (although she has an unblemished record with chambermaids). There are excellent candidates from Turkey, Singapore and other countries.

We do not yet know Draghi’s views on whether the likes of Greece should be bailed out or allowed to default. We should. It is something he would have to deal with in any of the above roles.