Dutch minister set to replace Eurozone chief Juncker

After 8 years in office, Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker on Monday will chair his last Eurogroup meeting as head of the euro zone.

"This is the last time that I am here before you, but this is not the time for nostalgia, is the time for action", said Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker.

Euro zone members are expected to name the young, and for some inexperienced, Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem as the new president of the 17-nation bloc.

Although France raised concerns about his appointment last week, Dijsselbloem seems to have wide support between member states, especially from Germany. He is set to lay out his vision of Europe at a eurozone's meeting on Monday evening.

When asked if he had any advice for his predecessor, Juncker referred to the importance of listening to all euro zone members.

"Sometimes I read reports in which the people who think that they will be my successor, think that things can be done without spending as much time as I spend. Right, things could be done faster, but you will see the results in 6 months if my successor does not take the time to listen to all member states on an equal footing, all the ones who are members of the Eurozone and the ones who are not members of the Eurozone".

"I believe that these are still hard times and we should not give public opinion nor national parliaments the view that the worst is over, what we still have to do is still difficult", said Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker.

Despite an acute debt crisis that has threatened the core of the European project, Juncker remained a strong defender of the single currency and a united Europe throughout his mandate.

"All futurologists, especially in the Anglo-Saxon world, thought that in 2012 the Eurozone would collapse. And they've seen that the Eurozone is still there, that Greece, which was supposed to leave the Eurozone, is still a member of it, with vigour and reforms”, said Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker.

Well known for speaking out about thorny issues, Juncker had to find balance between pushing debt-ridden countries towards painful austerity reforms and forcing signs of solidarity out of richer euro area members.

"If you simply get stucked with your own carreer . If you start thinking that speaking bad of Europe will go down politically well back home, you loosing the point of Europe and in our countries we ought to be defending Europe and in Europe we ought to be defending our countries”, said Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker.

Eu finance ministers are also set to continue negotiations over a potential bailout for Cyprus.