Lautenschlaeger is the only candidate to succeed another German, Joerg Asmussen, who left the ECB two years into his eight-year term to rejoin the German government as state secretary in the labour ministry.

Asked whether she would be closer to Asmussen or Bundesbank chief Jens Weidmann on policy issues, Lautenschlaeger said she could not say, adding: "I will have my own position."

Lautenschlaeger is the Bundesbank's vice president.

"I plan to have a full term," she added, when asked if she would serve the full eight-year term on the ECB Executive Board.

(Reporting by Eva Taylor and Paul Carrel; Editing by Mike Collett-White)