Italy's central bank governor Antonio Fazio decided on Thursday to skip a potentially embarrassing meeting of European finance ministers as pressure mounted on him to quit over a bank take-over scandal.
The Bank of Italy said Fazio, in his first public concession since the scandal erupted in July, would miss the Ecofin meeting starting on Friday in Manchester and send one of the bank's deputy director-generals instead.
The meeting would have awkwardly paired him with Economy Minister Domenico Siniscalco, one of three senior cabinet ministers who have called for Fazio to step down.
Politicians and newspapers had urged Fazio not to go to Manchester to spare Italy the embarrassment of having a central bank governor and an economy minister at daggers drawn on the same international stage.
"This will thus prevent the risk that repercussions from internal matters would in any way affect a European meeting attended by an Italian delegation," a bank statement said, acknowledging the uproar over the take-over scandal.
But the decision left the greater question of Fazio's future in the balance. The head of Italy's independent central bank since 1993 has an open-ended term, and the government cannot order him to step down. The 68-year-old governor is accused of showing bias against Dutch bank ABN Amro and favouring Italy's Banca Popolare Italiana in a take-over battle.
The Wall Street Journal Europe's opinion pages on Thursday joined an array of European and Italian newspapers in calling on Fazio to resign. "Please. Just go," the newspaper said, adding, "Tuscany's a nice place to retire."
Fazio has denied any wrongdoing and the government has been unable to make a unified move against the governor. Although the three senior ministers have spoken out against Fazio, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has adopted a neutral stance.
Siniscalco has said he will seek Fazio's ouster if the governor continues to resist. Minutes after the Bank of Italy released its statement on Thursday, Siniscalco headed for a meeting with Berlusconi.
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