Luxembourg’s Juncker to remain head of Eurogroup

Jean-Claude Juncker, the Luxembourg premier considered a founding father of the euro, will remain as head of the eurozone finance ministers group, an EU source said Tuesday.

Due to step down in exactly one week, on July 17, Juncker’s peers in the 17-nation eurozone requested he remain for a full two-and-a-half-year term as head of the so-called Eurogroup, the source said at the close of Eurogroup talks.

It had initially been thought that Juncker, who has held the post since 2005, would remain in the job only temporarily.

Juncker himself had suggested he could stay on for a further six months.

Finding a successor has been tricky, with the most likely new candidate, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, running into French opposition.

French Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici earlier said Juncker should stay on until a “possibly more lasting solution” was found to the debt crisis.