Portuguese Finance minister elected new head of Eurogroup

The Portuguese Finance minister had been chosen to take over Joroen Dijsselbloem’s chair and will be the next head of Eurogroup, the top economic job in the Eurozone. Mário Centeno was chosen among “four excellent candidates” from Latvia, Luxembourg and Slovakia. Dijsselbloem, from the Netherlands, will keep leading the Eurogroup until next January.

The decision came after two round of votes. Centeno had failed the first one, but won the second round against Luxembourg’s Pierre Gramegna. Slovakia’s Peter Kazimir and Latvia’s Dana Reizniece-Ozola dropped out after the first round. The election was held in Brussels and the European Union announced his victory afterwards.

After being elected, Mário Centeno said in a press conference that “it’s an honor” to lead the board which unites all the Eurozone’s Finance ministers. Centeno also spoke about “the relevance of this group” and “the quality” of his colleagues, and pointed out the “importance of the job” ministers have “to carry over the next two years”.

"It’s an honor because of the relevance of this group, of the quality of my colleagues, of the importance of the job we have to carry over the next two years,” Centeno told reporters after the voting. “We have a time window to further prepare our economies and societies better.”