Mario Draghi to succeed Trichet as European Central Bank president

BRUSSELS: Bank of Italy Governor Mario Draghi was appointed as the next president of the European Central Bank, avoiding a delay that risked complicating the handling of the sovereign-debt crisis.

Draghi's appointment was approved at a summit of EU leaders in Brussels on Friday, an EU spokesman said. The 63- year-old Italian will take over from Jean-Claude Trichet as the head of the ECB, beginning an eight-year term on November 1. The announcement was made after last-minute wrangling.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy had sought assurances that another Italian on the ECB's six-member board, Lorenzo Bini Smaghi, would quit early to make way for a Frenchman, three officials said earlier on Friday.A Massachusetts Institute of Technology-trained economist, Draghi had already been backed by finance ministers and was the only candidate to take over the Frankfurt-based ECB.