Greek finance minister Pierrakakis named new head of Eurogroup

BRUSSELS, ‌Dec 11 (Reuters) - Greek finance minister ‍Kyriakos ‌Pierrakakis has been named as the new ⁠head of ‌Eurogroup, the assembly of finance ministers from the countries that use the ⁠euro, beating off his rival Belgian candidate ​for the post.

"The Eurogroup today ‌elected Kyriakos Pierrakakis, ⁠Minister of Economy and Finance of Greece, as President of the ​Eurogroup," said the Council of the European Union on Thursday.

Pierrakakis had been vying for the post along ​with ‍Belgium's deputy ​prime minister Vincent Van Peteghem, after Paschal Donohoe resigned as Irish finance minister and Eurogroup president to take up a senior World Bank ⁠role.

Pierrakakis has held previous Greek government positions such ​as minister of education and minister of digital governance, and he holds degrees from Athens ‌University and Harvard University.

(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta, Editing by Benoit Van Overstraeten)