Kažimír had fallen out of favor among his fellow eurozone socialists, who overlooked him amid concerns about his unpredictable nature. Several eurozone officials told POLITICO that the Slovak has a tendency to “speak without thinking,” with one person questioning whether Kažimír would be able “to do the job without insulting people.”
But Slovakia’s curveball comes less than two weeks after its capital, Bratislava, lost out in the race to host the European Medicines Agency (EMA) which must relocate from London after Brexit. Amsterdam edged out Milan for the EMA, with Bratislava not even getting past the first round of voting despite having been considered a leading contender. [...]
The Commission, Parliament and Council are all headed by conservatives from the European People’s Party (EPP), which deliberately didn’t field its own candidate for the Eurogroup race to keep political peace with socialists in Brussels. Spain’s Finance Minister Luis de Guindos orchestrated that EPP strategy, which should have paved the way for the socialist candidate to win the Eurogroup presidency. [...]
The winner will exert significant influence over economic and monetary policy across the 19-country bloc as it embarks on ambitious reforms to strengthen its foundations. Another immediate task facing the next Eurogroup president will be the delicate process of shepherding Greece toward the exit from its €86 billion bailout program next summer.
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