Reuters: US Dollar Report: Juncker most likely to remain Eurogroup president-officials

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Juncker most likely to remain Eurogroup president-officials Jun 26th 2012, 16:05 Tue Jun 26, 2012 12:05pm EDT * Germany's Schaeuble was seen as most likely to take over job * Some euro zone officials prefer experience Juncker to stay BRUSSELS, June 26 (Reuters) - Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker is most likely to stay on as head of the powerful Eurogroup - the monthly council of euro zone finance ministers who set euro zone economic and fiscal policy, euro zone officials said on Tuesday. Juncker, who has been chairing Eurogroup meetings since 2005, was planning to step down when his third term expires at the end of the month and Germany's Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble was expected to take over from him. But reservations among some euro zone countries about Germany, Europe's biggest economy, becoming too overtly dominant in euro zone policymaking, appear to shifted support back towards Juncker, with no other clear candidate emerging. "It is not a done deal yet, but Juncker is now most likely to stay on," one euro zone official said. A second official also said Juncker would remain Eurogroup head for now and continue work on plans of a banking, economic and fiscal union in the euro zone as one of the single currency area's top four officials. "There is a feeling that Juncker has done the job well," said one euro zone diplomat, adding that were Schaeuble to take over, "the German line would be too strong". A second diplomat said there were few alternatives to Juncker. "Somebody new might have been preferable but no acceptable alternative has emerged," he said. The four top euro zone posts, which apart from Juncker include the head of the European Commission, central bank and European Council, have drafted a report for EU leaders who meet on Thursday in Brussels on how the euro zone should complete its economic integration. Because of EU attention to fill important jobs across with different nationalities, if Juncker remains in his post, this could increase the chances of the chief executive of the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), Klaus Regling, staying on as the head of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), the euro zone's permanent rescue fund. It would also decrease the chances of Luxembourg central bank governor Yves Mersch getting a job vacated by Spain on the European Central Bank's executive board. But another euro zone official cautioned that Juncker, who had complained of health problems could, for instance, stay on for less than the full 2.5 year term, paving the way for a change at the helm of the Eurogroup in 6 months or a year. Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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