What's the biggest financial decision facing Europe in 2011? Easy. The choice of a new president of the European Central Bank.

When Jean-Claude Trichet steps down from the post in October, the leading candidates to succeed him will be Bundesbank president Axel Weber and the governor of the Bank of Italy, Mario Draghi.

Neither is the right man. Weber would be intolerable to the peripheral euro countries, while Draghi might well provoke the Germans into quitting the single currency.

For the leaders of the eurozone, there are only three solutions to this fix. They could take the traditional way out of a difficult decision and give the job to an obscure Dutchman, which is what they did when Wim Duisenberg became the first ECB president. They could extend Trichet's term or they could choose a wild-card candidate.

Most big European jobs are grand titles without much power but the ECB president is different. He is the key economic policy-maker for the 17 countries sharing the single currency.

With both Greece and Ireland bust, it is no exaggeration to say the euro is in mortal danger. Its survival depends on decisions made in the next few years.

The trouble is, neither of the two leading candidates is suitable. That isn't because of who they are. Both Weber and Draghi are clever, well-qualified men. Under normal circumstances, they could do a good job. But not this year.

Matthew Lynn is a Bloomberg News columnist and the author of 'Bust', a book on the Greek debt crisis. The opinions expressed are his own