Brussels, 10/07/2015 (Agence Europe) - After a crucial weekend for the future of Greece within the eurozone, eurozone finance ministers will appoint (or elect, if necessary) their head for the next two and a half years.
The two candidates in the race to become the head of Eurogroup are Dutch social democrat finance minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem, who holds the position until Monday 20 July, and the Spanish finance minister, Christian Democrat Luis De Guindos (see EUROPE 11337). France backs the Dutch minister due to political leanings and to ensure some continuity because it will necessarily take some time to resolve the Greek crisis. Germany is calling for the Spaniard to be appointed.
Spain will have a hefty problem to solve, which is that there will be general elections in the country in autumn. De Guindos wants to be a full-time head of Eurogroup rather than being finance minister at the same time. The only possible option would be for the head of the informal group of ministers to become a permanent job, something that the five presidents' report on the boosting of EMU does not consider before 2017.
The ministers will discuss the Greek crisis at their meeting on Monday. Their talks will inevitably depend on the decisions taken at the special Eurogroup meeting on Saturday (see related article) and possible eurozone and/or EU summits on Sunday.
EMU. As requested by the European Summit last month (see EUROPE 11344), the ministers will discuss the five presidents' report (by the presidents of the European Commission, European Council, Eurogroup, ECB and European Parliament) on strengthening economic and monetary union (EMU) (see EUROPE 11340 and 11348). The topic will also be on the Ecofin Council's agenda on Tuesday 14 July (see related article).
Eurogroup will discuss member states' transposition of the Budget Pact, an international treaty boosting budget discipline across the European Union, apart from in the United Kingdom and the Czech Republic (see EUROPE 10758).
FTT. The eleven countries wishing to introduce a financial transactions tax will meet up on the fringes of Eurogroup to discuss progress (see EUROPE 11354). (Mathieu Bion)