Today, the Euro finance ministers have elected the Irish Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe as the new Eurogroup president for the next two and a half years. The Portuguese predecessor Mario Centeno had announced his resignation as finance minister at the beginning of June and thus also resigned as head of the Eurogroup.
MEP Sven Giegold, financial and economic policy spokesperson of the Greens/EFA group commented:
“I congratulate Paschal Donohoe on his election as head of the Eurogroup today and hope for a constructive cooperation.
With Paschal Donohoe, the Eurogroup now has a president from a European tax haven. Given the holes in European budgets caused by the Corona crisis, this choice is not a good sign. Europe urgently needs to make progress in taxing international corporations and wealthy individuals to offset corona spending. Paschal Donohoe, as the new head of the Eurogroup, must not slow down the ambitious European tax reform agenda out of national self-interest.
Regardless of the new president, the Eurogroup and its leadership should urgently be structurally reformed. If the Eurogroup leader is also a national finance minister, conflicts of interest are inevitable. In the future, a European, not a national politician, should hold the presidency of the Eurogroup. This position deserves a European full-time chair. Such a reform of the Eurogroup Presidency was already called for in the Five Presidents’ Report.”