EU leaders appoint Boris Vujcic as ECB vice president

BRUSSELS, March 19 (Reuters) - European Union leaders appointed on Thursday Croatia's central bank Governor Boris Vujcic to be the vice president of the European Central Bank for a non-renewable 8-year term.

Vujcic, 61, will replace Spain's Luis de Guindos from June 1. He is a trained monetary economist who oversaw his own country's accession to the euro zone as its 20th nation in 2023, making it the second-newest member after Bulgaria.

A former university professor, Vujcic is considered a moderate hawk who has consistently warned against lingering inflation risks and argued for only gradual policy easing to make sure price pressures are fully extinguished.

A governor or deputy governor for more than 25 years now, he was also instrumental in negotiating Croatia's accession into the European Union in 2013.

The decision gives one of Europe's smallest economies the chance to take on a top ECB job, a relative rarity for an institution that has been dominated by the bloc's four biggest nations since its inception more than a quarter of a century ago.