Another President, really?

It’s been yet another day of uncertainty in the eurozone, with market fears over euro debt sending shares plunging across the globe and with EU leaders all over the place.

Amid the confusion, France has stepped up again with calls to strengthen the role of the Eurogroup, the forum where eurozone finance ministers get together to make policy decisions.

The groundbreaking proposal?

European Council President Herman Van Rompuy should take the lead and also be the ‘President for the Eurozone’. They now have Germany onside, and both will push the proposal over the next few months.

What’s interesting is that this would dramatically sideline, and perhaps eventually exclude, the role of the Eurogroup Chairman, currently held by the Luxembourg PM and uber-federalist Jean-Claude Juncker. Reuters claims that member states’ leaders may be inclined to support the proposal due to the allegedly “lacklustre performance” of Juncker, who’s been around the euro-block for some time now. We’re not surprised that he’s feeling jaded.

We see what they're trying to do - the Eurogroup is in desperate need of some coherence. But giving Van Rompuy another title? Will that really make anyone happier?