Finance news

Luxembourg’s Jean-Claude Juncker said the group of euro-area finance ministers, which he heads, may not reach a decision next week on a successor for European Central Bank Vice President Lucas Papademos.

“Whether we do this on Monday evening or in February, I cannot yet say,” Juncker said at a press conference in Luxembourg today. The so-called eurogroup of finance chiefs is scheduled to discuss the three candidates to succeed Papademos at a regular monthly meeting on Jan. 18 in Brussels.

The candidates to take over the central bank’s vice- president post on June 1 are ECB Governing Council members Yves Mersch and Vitor Constancio and Peter Praet, a director at the Belgian central bank who also is chairman of the Frankfurt-based ECB’s Banking Supervision Committee low interest rate personal loans.

Juncker said he lobbied French President Nicolas Sarkozy on behalf of Mersch, who is head of Luxembourg’s central bank, at a meeting yesterday in Paris.

“I’m in touch with all the euro-zone countries. I outlined the merits of Mersch’s candidature to President Sarkozy,” Juncker said. “It’s not my intention to reveal publicly the various reactions I’ve had.”

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