What is more, the post is vacant, and has been for six months after its previous holder, an amiable Finn, left for another EU institution.
Now this matters, because it is the first time that an EU institution has hinted that there is a realistic possibility of default by Greece, Ireland and Portugal.
The EU is a complex institution, fragmented between different actors and between the various member states and Brussels.
If adopted, the levy would be applied from January 2014: all securities transactions involving an EU-based financial institution would be taxed at 0.1% and all over-the-counter derivatives deals at 0.01% of the notional principal amount.
She agreed to strengthen the role of the European Investment Bank, an EU long-term lending institution that finances research and development projects and infrastructure.
The EIB EIB was set up in 1958 under the original Treaty of Rome and is the EU's long term lending institution.
The role of economic policeman seems likely to change the character of the institution that historically set the EU agenda for new legislation, despite its historical role in ensuring implementation of EU laws.
The Labour leader argued the case for the EU was not served by ignoring the institution's "failings", adding that said the case for continued involvement had to be made "in a new way", rather than treating it as an "article of faith".
He said David Cameron had "no secret plot" to get the UK out of the EU, but wanted to remain a member of a reformed institution that was more competitive and flexible.
He said he would not vote for the UK to leave the EU if David Cameron was successful in securing some reforms to the institution.
Supporters say such moves would "streamline" EU decision-making, but opponents argue they would make the institution less accountable and democratic, while undermining the countries' national sovereignty.
The institution's shareholders are the 27 member states of the EU, with its board of governors made up of national finance ministers.
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Boastful but accurate: no other institution has entwined national and supra-national authority together in quite the EU's way.
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