Brussels - Finance ministers from the countries that use the euro late Tuesday chose Luxembourg Premier Jean-Claude Juncker to chair their informal meetings for the next two and a half years. The nomination cements Juncker's reputation as one of the European Union's most influential politicians. His appointment is expected to reinforce the stability of the EU's battered financial markets in the wake of the global economic downturn.
Juncker, 54, has chaired eurogroup meetings since January 2005. Under the group's rules, he should have stepped down after two two- year terms on January 1, 2009, but eurogroup ministers agreed to prolong his mandate to provide stability in the financial crisis.
On Tuesday, the European Union's Lisbon Treaty came into force. A protocol attached to the treaty changed the eurogroup's rules by giving its chairman a mandate of two and a half years.
Juncker himself said late Tuesday that the actual vote would be held next month, following a January 18 consultation about the Lisbon treaty's impact on the eurogroup. There was the "broadest" agreement for his election, and Juncker said that he would like to be his own successor.
He has clashed in the past with the EU's economic powerhouse, Germany, over Luxembourg's banking secrecy laws. However, Juncker is seen as an unrivalled expert on financial matters and a guarantor of financial and fiscal stability in troubled times.
The eurogroup meets informally once a month on the eve of formal meetings of the EU's 27 finance ministers. The purpose of the group is to "discuss questions related to the specific responsibilities they share with regard to the single currency."
The group, which includes EU heavyweights France, Germany and Italy, is one of the most influential economic groupings within the EU.
