Germany's Schaeuble denies he is next Eurogroup chief

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble dismissed a report Saturday that he might succeed Luxembourg's Jean-Claude Juncker as the head of the Eurogroup of finance ministers. "That is nonsense," said Martin Kreienbaum, spokesman for the minister who was in Marseille in southern France for a meeting of top finance officials from the G8 group of rich nations. German news magazine Focus, quoting diplomats, wrote on Saturday: "When names are mentioned, most of the time, the name of German Schaeuble comes up (...) If he wants it, he will get it." Schaeuble, who will be 69 next week, is considered a potential candidate to take over from Juncker as chairman of eurozone finance ministers in January and is seen as a favourite in the negotiations about a successor, Focus added. "Wolfgang Schaeuble is certainly someone who is perfectly appropriate," it quoted Markus Ferber, parliamentary leader of the ultra-conservative CSU junior partner in Angela Merkel's centre-right coalition government, as saying. "Germany should lead politically if a culture of stability is to prevail in all of Europe," Ferber added. Non-German diplomats quoted by the magazine also said it was likely that a German would be appointed to take over the Eurogroup.