In an interview in Brussels with Portugal’s TSF radio, Moscovici described Centeno as one of the candidates with whom “I should like to work” but said that there are “various candidates” of similar quality.
“Various candidates have the required conditions, and Mário Centeno is certainly among them,” he said. “But then I also think that it can’t be obvious that a Socialist will chair the Eurogroup. And he also isn’t the only one that could make it.”
With two days to go before candidates’ names must be in, and with none formally announced, Moscovici said he hoped that the people who eventually stepped forward would produce a “good leader” because the Eurogroup is not an easy body to oversee.
“This group needs leadership,” he said. “It’s never easy. It’s very important to have a strong and good leader who is dedicated to the European project and knows that it is necessary to at the same time have seriousness and flexibility.”.
Moscovici said that he himself was not a candidate, despite continuing to believe that in the long-term the functions of commissioner and Eurogroup president should be merged.
“Whoever becomes president, I should like that in principle it be only for a short period, until the moment that we have a new commission, at the latest,” he said.
The name of the future Eurogroup president is expected to emerge from the meeting of Eurozone finance ministers that is scheduled for next Monday, with the announcement to be made by the current president, Jeroen Dijsselbloem of the Netherlands.