The election is to be held at the next Eurogroup meeting on Monday 4 December.

Mário Centeno, (50), who comes from the Algarve, has been Portugal’s finance minister since 26 November 2015.

The Latvian finance minister, Dana Reizniece-Ozola (Greens) and her Slovakian counterpart, Peter Kazimir (also Socialist like Centeno), have likewise formally applied for the job.