To stop Weber I think a candidate need to be found that suits a number of informal arrangements within a circle of powerful men (and maybe one or two women) in Brussels. To see who would fit one would need to know the gamefield in detail, which I do not see how we could.

However, I am certain there are other candidates in the wings, because there is no lack of ambitious men. So I think a compromise candidate will emerge if Weber is stopped, just as Rumproy appeared when Blair was stopped.

What I think would be interesting is to formulate the ideal candidate (however unselectable) and push him (or her) as an explicit alternative to Weber. The point would not be to get the candidate selected but to push the discussion about what political direction ECB should and should not take. In the process Weber would be shot at and the ground would be made for that someone else.

So if we could pick anyone, then who? (And remember that Keynes is dead.)

Sweden's finest (and perhaps only) collaborative, leftist e-newspaper Synapze.se