MADRID (AP) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel says her country will back Spanish Economy Minister Luis de Guindos’s candidacy to be the next head of the Eurogroup, the gathering of eurozone finance ministers that sets important policies for the currency union.
Merkel said Monday that when the term of the current Eurogroup leader, Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem, ends in January, Germany will support de Guindos to replace him.
She said de Guindos “has been an excellent economy minister in difficult times” and had worked closely with Germany’s Wolfgang Schaeuble on many issues during the eurozone’s financial crisis.
Merkel was speaking during a press conference with Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy in the northwestern Spanish city of Santiago de Compostela at the end of a two-day visit.
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