Mário Centeno is seen as a strong candidate to succeed Jeroen Dijsselbloem of the Netherlands as the president of the informal gathering of Eurozone finance ministers, known as the Eurogroup, although he has not formally announced a bid for the role.
“If Mário Centeno puts himself forward of course he will have Spain’s support,” said the Spanish minister, Luis de Guindos, in Brussels, where he was attending a meeting of Ecofin, the formal council of all European Union economy and finance ministers.
De Guindos himself made a bid for the Eurogroup presidency in 2015, but lost out to Dijsselbloem, who is shortly to step down after serving two terms.
The Spanish minister said that he had already told Centeno he could count on his support, just as the latter had said de Guindos could count on Portugal’s backing if he were to put himself forward – which, de Guindos stressed, will not happen.
On the mutual support between the two governments, de Guindos said it was a matter of well-known “Iberian affinity” that “has always been traditional between Spain and Portugal”.