Eurozone crisis/Catalogs

The Principal Actors

Jose Manuel Barroso

President of the European Commission since 2004. Previously Prime Minister of Portugal and leader of its Social Democratic Party.

Silvio Berlusconi

Prime Minister of Italy since 2008 (having served two previous terms). Businessman and media proprietor. Founder of the conservative Forza Italia political party. The subject of alleged sex scandals. Has been accused of embezzlement, tax fraud and false accounting, and attempting to bribe a judge, but has never been convicted.

Mario Draghi

Governor of the Bank of Italy since 16 January 2006. President of the European Central Bank from November 2011.

Jean-Claude Juncker

President of Luxembourg since 1995. Previously leader of the Christian Socialist Party. Chairman of the Eurogroup of eurozone Finance Ministers. Proponent of eurobonds.

Angela Merkel

Chancellor of Germany since 2005. Leader of the centre-right Christian Democratic Union and head of a coalition with the centre-right Free Democratic Party since re-elected in 2009 (the next elections are due in 2013). Under international pressure to rescue Greece and under domestic pressure to abandon it (a poll conducted in September 2011 by the Forsa Institute, 80% of Germans are against rescuing Greece).

George Papandreou

Prime Minister of Greece since 2009. Leader of the Panhellenic Socialist Movement.

Olli Rehn

European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs since 2010.

Nicholas Sarkozy

President of France since 2007. Previously president of the conservative Union for a Popular Movement.

Wolfgang Schaeuble

German Finance Minister since 2009.

Giulio Tremonti

Italian Finance Minister since 2005. Has a reputation for fiscal prudence. Weakened by rumoured connection with a graft scandal in 2011[1].

Jean-Claude Trichet

President of the European Central Bank since 2003 (term of office ends November 2011).

Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero

Prime Minister of Spain since 2008 and has decided not to stand for re-election in 2012.