Eurozone finance ministers have backed Italian Central Bank Governor Mario Draghi’s bid to be the next president of the European Central Bank. Mr Draghi emerged as the front-runner for the post following the resignation of Axel Weber as president of the German Bundesbank and the latter’s declaration that he was no longer interested in the European job.

Following the endorsement by the Eurogroup, Mr Draghi will now have to pass the test of the European Parliament before getting the final approval of EU leaders at their summit in Brussels in June.

Finance Minister Tonio Fenech described Mr Draghi as a “highly competent person with excellent experiences in the international financial field.”

The president of the Eurogroup, Jean Claude Juncker, said, shortly after eurozne finance ministers met late on Monday evening: “We unanimously designated Mario Draghi as the successor to the outgoing ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet. He is a central banker who has proved through his career that he holds very dear the principles of the euro.” Mr Draghi was appointed Governor of the Bank of Italy in December 2005. Before that he was vice chairman and managing director of Goldman Sachs International and a member of the financial management committee of the ECB.

Mr Draghi will succeed Jean Claude Trichet at the helm of the ECB next October, when Mr Trichet’s term of office expires.