Jürgen Karcher, Managing director and country head of fixed income, Germany, Salomon Smith Barney
Pedro Solbes, a former Spanish finance minister who in September took up his post as European Union commissioner for monetary and economic affairs, is reckoned to be one of the ablest politicians from the Spanish centre-left and one of the most tireless negotiators on the continent. He is also well acquainted with the Brussels EU bureaucracy, having spent almost his entire career in jobs linked in some way to matters European. This is the first time he has actually lived in the Belgian capital since the 1970s, however, and when Euromoney spoke to him, he was trying to decide whether to buy or rent his accommodation.
Such domestic considerations may well be light relief for someone now charged with making policy for the eurozone, helping to negotiate accession of new countries to the single currency, and being involved with such practicalities as introducing euro notes and coins by 2002. With fellow commissioner Frits Bolkestein (responsible for the internal market), Solbes will also be responsible for coordinating fiscal policy and eventually for imposing sanctions on eurozone countries that fail to stick to guidelines on cutting deficits and public debt.