Euro group agrees on need for president

The dozen nations sharing the euro currency gave broad support today to appointing a Mr Euro to speak for the group and co-ordinate economic policy.

“There were many members in favour,” said Dutch finance minister Gerrit Zalm, after chairing a ministerial meeting in Brussels. ”We’ll decide in our next meeting – in September – how to handle this.”

The man widely touted to become the first full-time chairman of the group, Luxembourg’s Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, said earlier he supported efforts to raise the euro’s profile.

“I was always of the opinion for years that the euro group needs a permanent president,” said Juncker.

Under the proposal, the euro group would appoint a single person to represent it for a 2-1/2 year term, replacing the current system where presidency rotates among the nations every six months in line with the presidency of the whole 25 nation EU.