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.
