10 Facts About Eurogroup

Eurogroup is the recognised collective term for official, informal meetings of the finance ministers of the eurozone—those member states of the European Union which have adopted the euro as their official currency.

The current President of the Eurogroup is Paschal Donohoe, the Minister for Finance of Ireland.

Eurogroup, formerly known as the Euro-X and Euro-XI in relation to the number of states adopting the euro, was established at the request of France as a policy co-ordination and consultation forum on eurozone matters.

Current President of the Eurogroup is Paschal Donohoe, the Minister for Finance of Ireland.

In September 2004, the Eurogroup decided it should have a semi-permanent president who would be appointed for a term of two years.

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Finance Minister and then Prime Minister of Luxembourg Jean-Claude Juncker was appointed to be the first President of the Eurogroup, mandated from 1 January 2005 until 31 December 2006, and was re-appointed for a second term in September 2006.

The presidency has helped strengthen the group, since before Juncker's appointment the Eurogroup was only present at meetings in the European Parliament.

Since the position of President of the Eurogroup was created, the president has attended the European Parliament Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs every six months.

The non-transparency of the Eurogroup was a significant factor in the formation of the DiEM25 movement to "re-democratize Europe", to which Varoufakis belongs.

In 2008, in light of the 2008 financial crisis, French President Nicolas Sarkozy called the Eurogroup to be replaced by a "clearly identified economic government" for the eurozone, stating it was not possible for the eurozone to go on without it.