France and Germany have thrown their weight behind creating a permanent president for economic policy in the euro zone, a role that would mark a fundamental overhaul of how the currency bloc is managed.
Reuters reports that their backing calls into question the performance of Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem, who was appointed chairman of the Eurogroup of finance ministers of the 17-nation currency area in January, to serve initially for 2-1/2 years.
Dijsselbloem, who succeeded Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, has unsettled financial markets since taking office, especially with comments about Cyprus and how bank depositors could finance future bailouts.
Those views, while supported by some at the European Central Bank and the European Commission, have irked other officials in Paris, Berlin and Brussels.
At a meeting in Paris on Thursday, President Francois Hollande and Chancellor Angela Merkel agreed to propose to fellow leaders appointing a permanent Eurogroup head, which France has long favored.
"A full-time president of the Eurogroup with reinforced powers, including the possibility of delegating power to other euro zone ministers," their joint "contribution" to next month's EU summit said under the heading "Reinforcing euro zone governance and legitimacy".
Merkel's spokesman said the aim was to create a position with a much more dedicated focus on euro zone issues.
"It should not be a euro zone finance minister but a president whose job would be to coordinate work intensively," said Steffen Seibert. "It will be a very demanding job."
The Franco-German document said the proposal should be implemented within two years. It also said euro zone leaders should hold more frequent summits than the two annual sessions they already have and be able to instruct specialist ministers of the euro zone to work more closely on issues such as employment, social affairs, research and industry.
Both moves could widen the gap between a euro zone core and other member states of the European Union that are not in the single currency, and put national governments rather than the European Commission in the driver's seat.
When he was appointed, Dijsselbloem, 47, had only been a minister for a couple of months and had little experience of finance. But he was seen as the best of those available from among the 17 ministers that sit in the Eurogroup.
His style has been remarkably different to Juncker's, who held the job for nearly 8 years and was accustomed to the backroom dealing of European Union politics. Juncker once said that "when it becomes serious, you have to lie".
Dijsselbloem, on the other hand, has been all about telling it straight, but his openness, especially over Cyprus, is what has most unsettled markets and put EU leaders on edge.
