Germany and France send two key government officials to fill positions at the European Central Bank today, setting off a struggle for the job of chief economist.

Joerg Asmussen and Benoit Coeure join the ECB’s six-member Executive Board as the sovereign debt crisis enters its third year, replacing Germany’s Juergen Stark and Italy’s Lorenzo Bini Smaghi, who both departed prematurely. Asmussen, 44, was Germany’s deputy finance minister, while Coeure, 42, served as the French Treasury’s No. 2 official.

“It’s fresh blood at the table and they may bring a different approach,” said Jacques Cailloux, chief European economist at Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc in London. “Because they come from the heart of government there may be a risk that it’s seen as becoming too political, but I doubt that the ECB will entertain anything that will be seen as endangering its independence.”

The new arrivals transform the ECB’s core policy-making panel just as the debt crisis threatens to tip the 17-nation economy into recession and raises questions about the future of the euro. Four board positions have now changed hands in the past seven months and a fifth is up for grabs in May when Jose Manuel Gonzalez-Paramo of Spain ends his term.