On Thursday 30 November, the finance ministers of Latvia, Luxembourg, Portugal and Slovakia officially threw their hats into the ring to take over the presidency of the Eurogroup from the former Dutch Finance Minister, Jeroen Dijsselbloem.
Dana Reizniece-Ozola (Latvia), Pierre Gramegna (Luxembourg), Mário Centeno (Portugal) and Peter Kažimír (Slovakia) submitted their candidacies on the last day on which finance ministers wishing to take over the position could officially apply to take over from Dijsselbloem. The services of the Council of the European Union made these candidacies official in the middle of the afternoon of 30 November.
Gramegna and Kažimír were expected to stand, given statements made recently (see EUROPE 11880, 11898).
The future president will be elected on Monday 4 December at the informal meeting of the Eurozone finance ministers. The winner will take up his or her position on 13 January 2018, when Dijsselbloem's mandate comes to an end (see EUROPE 11879), having been in position since January 2013 (see EUROPE 10768). The term in office of the next Eurogroup president will be for two and a half years. (Original version in French by Lucas Tripoteau)