Dutch minister puts himself up for Eurozone finance chair role
JEROEN Dijsselbloem, the recently-appointed Dutch finance minister, will today formally apply to succeed Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker as the Eurozone’s finance chief.
“I intend to present myself as a candidate tomorrow,” the 46-year old Labour politician told the Dutch parliamentary finance committee yesterday.
The Dutch lawmaker, appointed only in November, has already toured European capitals and spoken with European Council President Herman van Rompuy.
Under Juncker the Eurogroup of ministers had a large impact on the response Eurozone members took to the bloc’s sovereign debt crisis.
The career politician was a member of the Netherlands’ house of representatives between 2000 and 2012, with a short break during 2002.
On his government page, he promises to devote himself to “sound government finances, a further regulation of the financial sector and a strong Europe.”