On Tuesday, 9 June, Portugal’s finance minister and current President of the Eurogroup Mário Centeno announced that in mid-June, he would resign from his ministerial post, which he has held since 2015.
Said to have a difficult relationship with Prime Minister António Costa, Mr Centeno has his eye on the post of Governor of the Bank of Portugal, but the political opposition is against his appointment. He will be replaced in his ministerial post by current Secretary of State for the Budget João Leão.
“My tenure as Eurogroup President will end on 13 July 2020. On Thursday, I will inform my Eurogroup colleagues of my decision not to seek a second mandate, as by 15 June I will step down as finance minister of Portugal”, Mr Centeno announced on Twitter.
A new candidate for the presidency of the Eurogroup from a southern European country is not out of the question. It would maintain the geographical balance found after the February appointment of Finnish diplomat Tuomas Saarenheimo as head of the Eurogroup Working Group, which is responsible for preparing the work for the euro area finance ministers’ meeting (see EUROPE 12427/27).
The Eurogroup will meet on Thursday, 11 June, to take stock of the economic situation as the crisis inflicted by the Covid-19 pandemic raises fears of the worst peacetime recession since 1929. This meeting will also be the occasion on which the call for candidates will be launched for the election of Mr Centeno’s replacement on 9 July.
By negotiating the creation of three backstops for Member States, people affected by short-time work, and European companies, the Eurogroup was at the centre of the economic and budgetary decisions urgently taken at the European level in response to the crisis caused by the coronavirus. It played a role in the discussions leading to the Commission’s proposal for a Recovery Plan for Europe (see EUROPE 12494/2). (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)