Upon his departure, the German finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, described his eight years at the Eurogroup as a success, at the meeting of the Eurozone finance ministers in Luxembourg on Monday 9 October.
Schäuble used the example of Portugal, whose economic situation three years after the end of its financial assistance plan was examined by the ministers at the meeting. He argued that Portuguese economic recovery illustrates how stable the Eurozone has become following the financial crisis of 2008, the great success of Eurogroup-level policy over the last eight years. The future President of the Bundestag added that the time had come for him to leave his ministerial post to carry out new responsibilities.
He went on to take a position on the future of the Eurozone, calling for it to be reinforced in coming years, stressing that the future German government would continue policies defended at European level to date.
His European partners welcomed the work of their German counterpart. The French minister, Bruno Le Maire, said in German that Schäuble had been a great finance minister and had helped to reinforce the Franco-German friendship. Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the President of the Eurogroup, said that the longest-standing member of this informal body has played a crucial role during what had been tough years for the Eurozone. And although Pierre Moscovici, the Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, recognised his differences of opinion with Schäuble, he added that these had never been “irreconcilable”. Echoing his colleagues, the Spanish minister Luis De Guindos, who has been in his position since 2011, pointed out that he was now the longest-serving minister in the Eurogroup. This was not an insignificant statement, as De Guindos was in competition for the presidency of the Eurogroup with its current president, Dijsselbloem, whose mandate will end in January 2018.
By way of a leaving gift, the Eighteen gave Schäuble a European Union flag signed by the members of the Eurogroup, on which Euclid Tsakalotos, the Greek minister, wrote “nothing will be quite the same again”. (Original version in French by Lucas Tripoteau)