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| - Finance ministers from the 19 countries that use the euro single currency -- known as the Eurogroup -- elect their next president on Thursday, a key job as Europe faces its worst recession since World War II. Here are four things to know about filling the post: The president of the Eurogroup chairs the monthly meetings of the eurozone finance ministers and is tasked with bringing order to often divergent national economic policies. The task requires a great deal of diplomacy, since it involves forging compromises between richer countries in the north that insist on budgetary discipline and those in the south that are considered more lax. Criticised for its opacity, the Eurogroup was at the centre of the eurozone debt crisis, when it was chaired by Jean-Claude Juncker, a grizzled EU veteran from Luxembourg, then Jeroen Dijsselbloem of the Netherlands, who never backed away from speaking his mind. The group lost the limelight under the two-and-half-year leadership of Mario Centeno of Portugal, a soft-spoken economist who struggled to win approval on ways to improve the single currency among his feuding peers. The job awaiting the next president will be formidable as European capitals debate a massive spending spree to revive Europe after the pandemic. Spanish Minister of Economy, Nadia Calvino, 51, is said to be the favourite. A former senior civil servant, she then joined the European Commission, the EU's executive arm, where she oversaw the bloc's budget before being appointed minister in 2018. A moderate with a very technical profile, Calvino is seen as a centrist in Spain's left-wing coalition government and is appreciated by the economic establishment. Today she is the only woman in the Eurogroup and if elected, she would become the first to preside it. She recently received valuable support from German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who said she was "always happy to see women in political leadership positions". But some countries are strongly opposed to her candidacy, doubting whether she has the necessary diplomacy for a job that requires compromise. "Countries like the Netherlands, France and Spain have very pronounced economic philosophies and this is not what the position calls for," a European diplomat noted. Two men stand against Calvino: Irish conservative Paschal Donohoe, 45, and Luxembourg centrist Pierre Gramegna, 62. Donohoe hopes to emerge as a compromise candidate outside the traditional North-South divide. He points out that his country was bailed out during the eurozone crisis, along with Greece, Cyprus and Portugal. He also received the "full support" of the Europan People's Party, the political family which brings together the European conservative parties, including Merkel's CDU in Germany. Pierre Gramegna puts forward his experience: two and a half years ago he reached the final round against Centeno. The Luxembourger belongs to a small, deeply pro-European country that is adept at clinching plum EU positions. This former diplomat is also one of the longest-running members of the Eurogroup, which he has attended since 2013. The new chief of the Eurogroup will be elected by a simple majority vote, which means that he or she will need 10 out of 19 votes. Two rounds may be necessary if the 10 votes are not reached initially and the third place candidate withdraws. In the last election in December 2017, two of the four candidates withdrew after the first round, leaving Gramegna and Centeno to face each other in a final round. The choice can be based on a number of considerations: personality, political stripe or the size of the countries. Geographical proximity also plays a role: the Netherlands and Belgium, for example, are likely to vote for Luxembourg, while Portugal will vote for Spain. zap-arp/pdw/lc
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