PARIS (AP) - France is proposing the top economist at its Finance Ministry, Benoit Coeure, as a member of the board of the European Central Bank now that the French president of the ECB has retired.
It is customary for the largest euro countries to have someone on the council of the eurozone's chief monetary authority.
With the resignation earlier this month of ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet - replaced by Italy's Mario Draghi - France has no one on the board.
A statement Thursday said that French Finance Minister Francois Baroin has proposed Coeure, the deputy director general of the Treasury and top economist at the ministry.
It said he has "the needed experience and authority in the monetary and banking domains."