MNI EUROGROUP: EC Moscovici Reinterprets Juncker In Job Pitch

--EC Moscovici Says Knows Finance Minister Job, Others Say Role Unclear

--Dijsselbloem, Moscovici Deny Juncker Pushing Euro Enlargement ASAP

By Tara Oakes

     BRUSSELS (MNI) - European Economic Commissioner Pierre Moscovici's eyes

were firmly on a new job as Eurozone Finance Minister as he entered the informal

Eurogroup Friday.

     In a lengthy and barely disguised job pitch on the chilly Tallinn red

carpet, Moscovici held court for journalists, saying that the new role proposed

by EC President Jean-Claude Juncker Wednesday wasn't a "personal question" --

but if it were, he'd be the man for the job.

     "Even if I have the characteristics that very few others have: that I know

the job, because I was finance minister and also as commissioner for ECFIN now.

But no, it's not a personal matter," he said.

     Other key EU finance players were more reticent to throw their weight

behind Juncker's proposal. Unlike Moscovici, they refused to say they "know the

job", arguing that the key problem is that no-one yet knows what the job will

entail.

     Current Eurogroup President Jeroen Djisselbloem was suspicious of feigned

understanding of the role.

     "It's a title and it doesn't tell me a lot about substance, so what the

responsibilities would be, what instruments would the minister have in this

case," Djsselboem said.

     "We need to clarify what the strategy is. When the discussion is over, we

can discuss the strategy. For example, what position would a Eurozone finance

minister have? What should they decide on?" Austrian Finance Minister Johann

Schelling added on entry.

     "There are many questions which are still not clear."

     But not for Moscovici.

     "That's why President Juncker proposed with his speech that the

commissioner for ECFIN - it happens that I know him - should be a Vice President

for the Commission, and also be the chair of the Eurogroup in the future and

minister of finance," Moscovici said.

     "If you've got a budget, if you've got parliamentary control and also a

European Monetary Fund fully respecting the role of the Commission and the

institutions, that means that you have tools for an economic policy. I think

that the minister should be the driving force, who chairs Eurogroup," he added.

     This is a selective reinterpretation of Juncker's words, who in his State

of the Union address said there was no need for a separate budget for the

Eurozone "but a strong Euro area budget line within the EU budget".

     JOIN THE CLUB

     Moscovici and Dijsselbloem also denied that Juncker's strident announcement

that all member states are "required and entitled" to join the single currency

was an as-soon-as-possible push. It was widely seen as a warning to

unenthusiastic laggards like Poland to get in line.

     "I'm quite convinced that if we implement all the proposals contained in

the Juncker speech: a Eurozone with a budget capable to help member states to

invest, and also to enact structural reforms, if we have democratic governance,

then yes, everybody will want to join," Mosocvici said, again referencing a

non-existent Eurozone budget proposal.

     Dijsselbloem, who said he was determined to finish off his term as

Eurogroup president that runs until January, told journalists that he thought

increasingly robust Eurozone growth would speak for itself. No country can

realistically be forced to join the single currency, as the bloc lacks legal

recourse to back it up.

     "I think that will be a gradual process, very much depending of course on

the developments in some of the -- let's say -- future euro zone countries," he

said.

     "I think that's the approach we should take: the Eurozone, the banking

union function well, and I'm sure that other countries in the coming years will

join."

     A likely interim replacement for Eurogroup chair until any takeover by the

Commission is rumoured to be French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire.

     French politicians are keen to show Europe that the country is serious

economically. Le Maire himself was unhesitant in his praise for the reforms

President Emmanuel Macron is throwing at the country to enliven its sluggish

labour market.

     "France is back," he said.

--MNI Brussels Bureau; +44 203-865-3851; email: tara.oakes@marketnews.com

--MNI London Bureau; tel: +44 203-586-2225; email: les.commons@marketnews.com

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