Brussels, 08/01/2013 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 21 January, the eurozone finance ministers will decide who will take over from the current head of Eurogroup, Jean-Claude Juncker, for a two-and-a-half-year term of office. Despite his total lack of European experience, current Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijseelbloem may well take the prize. At the end of 2012, he indicated that he would seriously consider the job if it were offered to him. Media reports suggested on Tuesday 8 January 2013 that agreement had been reached in fact at the December European Summit (see EUROPE 10752), but a number of sources were unable to confirm this to EUROPE.
Currently touring various European capitals (Rome on Tuesday and Paris on Wednesday), officially to introduce himself as the new Dutch finance minister, the Dutch Socialist has a number of trump cards up his sleeve. He comes from a top-rated country (AAA) despite little in the way of budget leeway (deficit of 3.7% in 2012 and 2.9% in 2013 according to European Commission figures), which would reassure Germany, which wants a tight rein on economic and budget policies. The Netherlands has always called for stronger budget surveillance at EU level. The fact that Dijseelbloem is a Socialist would be music to French ears with France calling for greater surveillance at EU level along with a systematic strengthening of solidarity.
In October 2011, the European Summit said a decision would have to be taken when Juncker's term of office ended about whether the next chair of Eurogroup should be elected by Eurogroup members from their midst or whether it should be a full-time job based in Brussels. A European source said that Eurogroup was a club of finance ministers and it should be one of its members that runs the club because the time is not ripe for a big bang. The next chair's ability to forge consensus without forcing through any particular country's view is therefore more important than nationality. It is unlikely that the next head of Eurogroup would be a known figure based full-time in Brussels.
In this process of elimination, there are few potential candidates. It is impossible for the next head of Eurogroup to be from one of the countries in receipt of financial aid (Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain and soon Cyprus). The nationality of people already in top European jobs (Olli Rehn of Finland as Euro Commissioner and Mario Draghi at the head of the ECB) makes it unlikely that a Finn or an Italian would get the job. Apart from the dark horse of a Belgian or Slovenian candidate, there is also the question of gender, so important to the European Parliament, which could tip the odds in favour of Austria's Finance Minister Maria Fekter. (MB/transl.fl)