The Minister of State and Finance, Joaquim Miranda Sarmento, is among the names proposed by the European People’s Party (EPP) for the leadership of the Eurogroup, advances the newspaper Eco. The position became free after Pascal Donohoe, andx-Minister of Finance of Ireland, leave for the World Bank – nAt this moment, leadership is being exercised on an interim basis by the Cypriot minister Makis Keravno, responsible for leading the entire electoral process.
The election is scheduled for December 11th and requires a simple majority among the 20 Eurozone finance ministers. According to the online newspaper, Miranda Sarmento is part of a list of three possible names within the PPE. In the same list appear the names of the Belgian Vincent Van Peteghem and from Greek Kyriakos Pierrakakis. Vincent Van Peteghem, Belgium’s current deputy prime minister and finance minister appears to be the favorite.
According to Eco, Kyriakos Pierrakakis has been actively campaigning behind the scenes and is looking for support that could balance the internal confrontation with Van Peteghem. In this way, Miranda Sarmento could emerge as a compromise solution, if the PPE faces difficulties in uniting support around the other candidates.
Among the arguments in favor of Sarmento is the positive image that Portugal has built in terms of public accounts. The country has one of the few positive budget balances in the Eurozonein addition to a consistent downward trajectory in public debt. The deadline for submitting applications ends this Friday.