Luxembourg - Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker
vowed Monday to stay on as head of the influential 'eurogroup' of
nations that share the common European currency, despite stepping
down as his country's finance minister.
Attending a regular meeting in his homeland of the 16-nation bloc,
a day after leading his Christian Social Party (CSV) to an emphatic
general election victory, Juncker said: 'I do not intend to go on as
Luxembourg's finance minister.'
'But, depending on the outcome of the governing coalition
negotiations, I could go on with part, or the entire (portfolio) of
the treasury ministry,' Juncker said.
Asked whether he wished to stay on as eurogroup chairman, Juncker
replied: 'Yes!'
The 54-year-old politician has recently come under fire from EU
heavyweight Germany, which is keen to stamp out tax havens.
In turn, he has expressed disappointment at his EU colleagues for
failing to prevent the Group of 20 and the Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development (OECD) from including his country, along
with Austria and Belgium, in a 'gray' list of countries deemed to be
uncooperative with foreign tax authorities.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, meanwhile, has also moved to
undermine his authority by suggesting that the group should be turned
into an 'economic government' run by EU leaders.
EU rules do not specify who should head the eurogroup, stating
only that 'the Ministers of the Member States whose currency is the
euro shall elect a president for two and a half years, by a majority
of those Member States.'
However, the post has traditionally gone to a finance minister
from a country that has adopted the euro.
Juncker said he could imagine retaining some of the finance
ministry portfolios in order to stay on as eurogroup chief.
In the meantime, he cashed in the backing of several colleagues,
including that of Germany's powerful finance minister, Peer
Steinbrueck.
'I think there are rules within the European Union that have to be
applied. As far as I can see it, he needs in any case finance
competences to stay on as chief of the eurogroup, which I would
appreciate very much,' Steinbrueck said.
Austria's Josef Proell said Juncker had done an 'excellent job for
the EU and the eurogroup.'
'And yes, I am in favour of him retaining that responsibility in
the future as well,' Proell said.
Austria, like Luxembourg, has come under fire in the midst of the
global financial crisis for retaining what are seen as unhelpful bank
secrecy rules.
During their meeting in Luxembourg, eurogroup ministers were due
to discuss the poor state of the euro economy, as well as possible
emergency help to Latvia, which is battling with currency speculators
and is struggling to avoid bankruptcy.
Finnish Finance Minister Jyrki Katainen said governments needed to
go ahead with their plans to deal with the banks' impaired assets,
arguing that no sustainable recovery will be possible until 'we have
solved this banking crisis.'
The monthly informal eurogroup talks are often used as preparatory
meetings for the Ecofin, which take place on the following day and
which are attended by all of the EU's 27 finance ministers.
During Tuesday's meeting, ministers were expected to devoted much
of their time to plans by the European Commission to introduce an EU-
wide supervisory system for banks and other financial institutions.
The plans are resisted by, above all, Britain, which fears that
they could lead to a hemorrhage of hedge funds and other financial
players from the City of London.
'The ministers are fully aware of the importance of the
discussions, and I very much expect a high degree of consensus
tomorrow,' said Joaquin Almunia, the EU's commissioner for economic
and monetary affairs.
Any formal decisions on whether to introduce pan-European
financial regulators would be adopted by EU leaders at a summit
taking place in Brussels next week.
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