These should be happy days for eurozone finance ministers. While many of Europe’s prime ministers, chancellors and presidents are seen as lame ducks, or politically weak, eurozone economies are growing strongly.

Guide to finance ministers

Which eurozone finance ministers are the best at cutting deficits? Who is reforming their tax systems? And which ministers are the most politically effective? Find out with our exclusive rankings.

As a result some finance ministers, such as Ireland’s Brian Cowen, have been able to bask in their country’s economic success. Others have had a tougher time. Italy’s Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa, for instance, has found it harder to practise the virtues of fiscal discipline that he once preached when an executive board member of the European Central Bank.