Yahoo – AFP,
Jan Hennop, 14 July 2015
 |
Current
President of the Eurogroup Jeroen Dijsselbloem gestures during a press
conference at the EU Council building in Brussels on July 13, 2015 (AFP Photo/
Thierry
Charlier)
|
The Hague
(AFP) - Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem, re-elected on Monday to a
second term as Eurogroup chairman, has in two years risen from virtual
obscurity to a respected and unflappable dealmaker who helped guide Europe
through the worst hours of the Greek debt crisis.
Only two
months after elected as Dutch finance minister in November 2012, Dijsselbloem,
now 49, was thrust into heading the powerful Eurogroup of 19 finance ministers
-- and headlong into his first debacle, the crisis in Cyprus.
The deal,
in which Dijsselbloem orchestrated a bailout loan in return for tough reform
conditions, was criticised when a major Cypriot bank was forced to close down
and major investors lost money.
 |
Eurogroup
President and Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem (R) and
Greece's Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis speak at the start of an Eurogroup
meeting at
the European Council, in Brussels, on May 11, 2015 (AFP Photo/
Emmanuel Dunand)
|
Dijsselbloem
then sent markets into a tail-spin with a comment that the Cyprus model could
serve as a template for future bailouts. He later clarified that Cyprus was
"a specific case with exceptional challenges."
Equally
ill-considered was a jibe at his predecessor Jean-Claude Juncker, whom he in
typical Dutch straight-forward fashion called an "inveterate smoker and
drinker".
Cool and
calm
The
curly-haired Dijsselbloem -- pronounced "day-sell-bloom" -- stoically
weathered both storms and has since become respected for his cool and calm
approach -- sometimes to the major irritation of others.
Nowhere was
an apparent personality clash more obvious than with Greece's firebrand
left-wing former finance minister Yanis Varoufakis, whom Dijsselbloem
frequently battled over Greece's bailout programme.
However
Dijsselbloem has paid close attention to criticism over the past year, which
saw him bloom into a skilled and no-nonsense negotiator.
 |
President
of the Eurogroup Jeroen Dijsselbloem leaves at the end of an Eurozone
Summit
over the Greek debt crisis in Brussels on July 13, 2015 (AFP Photo/
Thierry
Charlier)
|
His first
breakthrough came in early 2014, when he put together Europe's banking union,
an ambitious project devised to protect taxpayers from forking out public funds
in case banks go bankrupt.
Against the
odds, Dijsselbloem found agreement between different European institutions as
well as France and Germany.
Since then,
the ever-growing Greek euro-crisis has taken up much of "Mr Euro's"
time.
But amid
his sparring with the hot-headed Varoufakis, Dijsselbloem has maintained
dialogue with Athens, even travelling there directly to discuss the issue with
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.
His bid for
re-election received a blow however when Germany officially announced it would
back his main opponent, Spain's Luis de Guindos, as his successor.
Dijsselbloem's
strong views on financial austerity however has won him a friend in German
Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble.
At the same
time, his French socialist counterpart Michel Sapin recently praised him for
doing a "very good job".
The Dutch
financial daily, Financieele Dagblad, has called him "business-like and
patient", while the centre-left De Volkskrant once described him as
"a little stuffy and as loyal as a guide dog".
But mainly
"it's his frankness that makes Dijsselbloem loved or hated. Whether friend
or foe, nobody disputes his qualities," the daily tabloid Algemeen Dagblad
said.
Dijsselbloem
studied agricultural economics in the Netherlands and business in Ireland and
early on acquired a reputation as a back-room strategist, quietly working out
of the limelight.
 |
Dutch
Finance Minister and Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem speaks to
journalists as he arrives for a Eurogroup meeting at the EU headquarters in
Brussels
on July 7, 2015 (AFP Photo/John Thys)
|
'Father
Christmas in reverse'
Positioned
on the right of the Netherlands' left-of-centre Labour party, Dijsselbloem shares
his party's pro-European vision, while backing balanced budgets and austerity
measures.
Dijsselbloem
was born in the southern city of Eindhoven, into a mostly apolitical family.
His
political awakening came aged 15 when he took part, against his parents' will,
in a 1983 protest against a Cold War nuclear missile installation.
A father to
a teenaged son and daughter, Dijsselbloem is an admirer of trumpet great Miles
Davis and of the British comedy series "Monty Python's Flying
Circus".
In an
interview at the end of December 2012, shortly before being appointed Eurogroup
chairman, Dijsselbloem told De Volkskrant he was a "Father Christmas in
reverse".
"Because
I have to make sure that no presents are handed out, and that everyone pays up
on time," he said of the unenviable role that no doubt will continue as
one of Europe's most powerful financial officials.
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