Dutch finance minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem should be replaced as chairman of the influential euro group by a permanent official, German newspaper Handelsblatt says on Monday.

The paper is critical of Dijsselbloem’s dual role and diplomats have described him as ‘difficult’ and ‘irritating’, the paper says. He is also said to be too much of a defender of the Netherlands’ interests.

Both Germany and France, the two most powerful euro group members, are keen to see a permanent chairman, Nos television reports. Dijsselbloem, appointed at the beginning of 2013, is supposed to stay in the job until mid-2015.