PARIS (Reuters), – President Emmanuel Macron’s Office announced Thursday that the French government had proposed Benoit Coeure, a former European Central Bank official as its new antitrust chief.

Coeure (52), has been the Innovation Hub at Bank for International Settlements since 2020. He joined the Bank after 8 years of service with the ECB.

Coeure replaces Isabelle de Silva. Her five-year tenure as chief of competition watchdog expired in October. Coeure’s appointment comes at a time when the regulator will make a decision on the proposed merger between France’s number 1 and 2 TV networks TF1 or M6.

Coeure was trained at France’s Polytechnique university as an economist. He then earned a Japanese degree and held various posts at France’s Treasury, including chief economist, G8 finance sherpa, and head of its public debt management office.

    He later joined the ECB’s Executive Board where he was in charge of market infrastructure and seen as one of then ECB chief Mario Draghi’s closest lieutenants.

    While a widely respected macroeconomist, Coeure’s approach to regulating big tech and companies is largely unknown.

De Silva was a watchdog member that saw him face heavy penalties from the U.S. tech titans Apple (NASDAQ;) and Alphabet’s Google (NASDAQ:).

    Coeure’s name has come up in the past as a possible head of the French central bank.

The French parliament will have to approve his appointment as antitrust monitor. Macron’s LREM centrist party is the majority.