Greek Finance Minister Christos Staikouras will be attending the meetings of Eurogroup (Monday) and Ecofin (Tuesday) in Brussels.
According to the agenda, on Monday, the EU finance ministers will exchange views on current developments and emerging challenges during the presentation by the IMF of its Article IV review of euro area policies.
They will continue their coordination exercise on fiscal policy focusing on the energy support measures, while the French and Dutch ministers will be invited to present their national experience. This will provide a basis for the Eurogroup to discuss the challenges faced in designing and implementing measures to alleviate the impact of the surge in the price of energy on households and firms.
An exchange will follow among ministers on the euro area aspects of the economic governance review, such as the draft budgetary plans exercise, the euro area fiscal stance and macroeconomic stabilisation, as well as the post-programme surveillance process and the application of the Macroeconomic Imbalances Procedure to euro area member states.
In addition, ministers will discuss the draft recommendations on the economic policy of the euro area for 2023, ahead of their approval at the Ecofin the next day; take stock of the advancement of the digital euro project and discuss the way forward; and mark the particular occasion of Croatia’s euro accession. The Croatian minister, the Commission and the ECB will update fellow-ministers on progress on the changeover to the euro.
Ecofin
On Tuesday, ministers will exchange views on the economic and financial impact of Russia’s war against Ukraine; this has been a regular agenda item for Economic and Financial Affairs Council meetings since the war began.
The Council will adopt an amending implementing decision as regards the recovery and resilience plan of Luxembourg, taking into account the updated reduced maximum financial contribution (82.7 million euros instead of 93.3 million euros).
In addition, the Council will approve conclusions on the alert mechanism report 2023 and the annual sustainable growth survey 2023. It is also expected to approve the 2023 recommendation on the economic policy of the euro area, which will then be submitted to the European Council for endorsement at its meeting in March.
SOURCE; ANA-MPA
