To give an idea of who he is Jeroen Dijsselbloem, new president of the Eurogroup, thought about it the Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant, which called him "loyal as a blind man's dog". It is difficult to understand whether this calling card should be considered positive or almost derogatory, the fact is that the 46-year-old, Dutch Finance Minister for just 11 weeks, appears more of a trusted executor than, as was his Luxembourg predecessor Jean-Claude Juncker, an overwhelming personality.
The 27 economic ministers of Europe have therefore decided to bring to their top, in a key institutional role in the management of the debt crisis, a semi-unknown, who has just emerged after many years of secondary roles in the Dutch Labor Party. A deliberately bland choice, as was the appointment at the time of the president of the EU Council, Herman van Rompuy.
Above all, a choice supported by Germany: Dijsselbloem has in fact been nicknamed at home "knight of morals" after his battles against violent video games and sexist advertising, and above all since he has been finance minister he has made absolute rigor the cornerstone of his government action. Moreover, Holland, together with neighboring Berlin, is one of the last four European countries (Finland and Luxembourg the other two) to still have a triple A economy, which necessarily puts it in the same line of views as Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Furthermore, the appointment of the discreet and austere Dijsselbloem was also accepted after some reservations by the French minister Pierre Moscovici, in the name of that Paris-Berlin axis which at one point had even hypothesized the candidacy in ticket of the transalpine and his counterpart Wolfgang Schaeuble ; except then fall back on the young Dutchman, who however the Elysée does not entirely like it because it seems probable that it will not give discounts even to its iron allies on the policies of rigor and balanced budget. Balanced budget for which 2013 will be a key year for France, while elections will take place in Germany in the spring: faithful Dijsselbloem will immediately be called upon to undertake an intense activity of compromise and tension management, as the tradition of the Benelux politicians, by nature inclined to mediate and unite.
Will he be able to? He himself defines himself as a "newcomer to the world of finance" and in fact his training, although economic, is agricultural in nature, and until last November his curriculum vitae only boasted ten years as a simple deputy in Amsterdam and an experience as a spokesman for Labor on education issues. It is therefore evident that his appointment looks more and more like a Trojan horse from Berlin to prevent many countries (including Italy, where moreover people go to vote) from letting themselves be tempted by growth policies, and more than all his first words after the formalization are valid as proof: "I guarantee that there will be no gifts for anyone and that everyone will pay their debt, on the day and at the established time".
