Brussels, 11/06/2015 (Agence Europe) - The new Finnish finance minister, Alexander Stubb, made it clear on Wednesday 10 June that he will not be standing to become the head of Eurogroup.
“You can stop speculating - there are two excellent, highly skilled and experienced candidates,” he told Reuters.
The two candidates who have come forward are social democrat Dutch finance minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem, who currently holds the post, and Spanish Christian democrat Luis de Guindos (see EUROPE 11329). Both candidates were in Helsinki on Wednesday, where they met the Finnish finance minster.
From the EU-Latin American summit in Brussels, Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy said Spain had the right to demand the job given the serious efforts it has made to get out of the financial and economic crisis. A sticking point, however, is that general elections are scheduled in Spain and hence there is no guarantee that the current government will remain in power. Germany is supporting the Spanish candidate and this has considerable weight because Germany came out in favour of Spain a while back. France backs Dijsselbloem. (Mathieu Bion)