BRUSSELS, Dec 11 (KUNA) -- The finance ministers of the eurozone countries which comprise 20 states using the single currency are set to elect a new president for the Eurogroup today, Thursday.
Belgium's Finance Minister Vincent Van Peteghem and Greece's Finance Minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis are competing to succeed the current president, Ireland's Paschal Donohoe, who submitted his resignation unexpectedly from the leadership of this influential financial body.
Van Peteghem, 45, has served as Belgium's finance minister since 2020 in two successive coalition governments and is known for his firm support of fiscal discipline in a country that ranks among the most indebted in the eurozone. Pierrakakis, 42, assumed the position of Greece's finance minister last March.
Van Peteghem and Pierrakakis announced their candidacies after Donohoe, 51, declared on 20 November that he was stepping down from the position to join the World Bank, despite having been re-elected in July for a two-and-a-half-year term.
The position of Eurogroup president is considered highly influential in shaping economic policy within the bloc, and winning it requires a simple majority vote.
The Eurogroup was established in 1997 to coordinate the economic and budgetary policies of eurozone countries, which will rise to 21 members when Bulgaria adopts the single currency on January first. (end) arn.gta