Portuguese finance minister confirms bid to become Eurogroup president

LISBON, Nov. 30 (Xinhua) -- Portuguese Finance Minister Mario Centeno has applied to become the next president of Eurogroup, the Portuguese government confirmed on Thursday.

Centeno was only expected to run if he felt assured of winning and so his candidacy suggests he has the tacit support of a majority of eurozone members' governments.

Certainly a number of international newspapers, including The Financial Times, cite Centeno as favourite.

Centeno has previously been described as the Ronaldo of European finance by German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble. On Centeno's watch, Portugal has exited the European Union's excessive deficit procedure and had its debt return to investment grade.

His position is therefore secure within the Portuguese government and the next general election in Portugal is not scheduled until October 2019.

Imminent elections in Italy, due in Spring 2018, are believed to have scuppered Italian Finance Minister Pier Carlo Padoan's chances of leading the group.

The presidency of Eurogroup will become vacant in January 2018 because Jeroen Dijsselbloem lost his job as finance minister at the last Dutch elections.

Centeno will now run off against Peter Kazimir of Slovakia and Dana Reizniece-Ozola of Latvia. Voting takes place on next Monday, Dec. 4. Enditem