Bloomberg reported news from Wirtschaftswoche, according to which Juncker will stay on as President of the Eurogroup, AND Yves Mersch, the Luxembourg central banker will join the Executive Board of ECB.
If confirmed, this reveals Juncker's excellent skills around the un-elected European power alleys. He contemplated the possibility to be outmaneuvered and said he would not pursue the job anymore. Then helped setting rules for his successor to be a former head of government, then lobbied for Mr. Schaeuble, himself not a head of government, and finished visiting Mr. Hollande almost minutes after he got elected President of France. To knowledgeable observers, this was clear evidence of a covert operation to keep the job.
What is more, Juncker has declared that he would prefer concentrating on his job as Prime Minister of Luxembourg, and that accumulating two jobs would be unrealistic for the future head of Eurogroup. That notion got amended more recently into something that makes it all of a sudden highly desirable again that Mr Euro should also be a national Minister of Finance, which he is. Accumulating or not? Mr. Frieden, his successor in petto as Prime Minister of Luxembourg, keeps his fingers crossed.
If all this is true, it is a beautiful success for Juncker in the messy European establishment politics. It was also always speculated that if Juncker would stay on as Mr Euro, that would preclude Yves Mersch from joining the ECB's Executive Board. According to Wirtschaftswoche's sources, Luxembourg would get the two prizes! A double whammy!
We might not beat Malta in soccer, but our people are tops in Europe, and tell you where it goes around! No wonder you all trust us with your money in our banks. We provide the sheriffs as you can see.
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