COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION-EUROGROUP-General Secretariat of the Council:latest news

 

Press material Friday 16 April 2021   ● Eurogroup   16/04/2021 15:29 | Statements and remarks | Remarks by Paschal Donohoe following the Eurogroup video conference of 16 April 2021   Good afternoon to everybody. We had a very productive meeting this morning, and it was very good to welcome our new colleague from Slovakia, the new Slovakian minister of finance, Igor Matovič. I started our meeting with an update of my engagement with our leaders in the Euro Summit three weeks ago. The discussion focussed on the international role of the euro. But it was also an important impulse for our work on a Banking Union. And our work on Banking Union was actually the first debate that we held today with finance ministers from all 27 member states. My colleague, Tuomas Saarenheimo, the president of the High-Level Working Group on EDIS, updated us on progress made by our representatives. As you will be aware, last December, the Euro Summit asked the Eurogroup to prepare on a consensual basis, a stepwise and time-bound work plan on all outstanding elements needed to complete Banking Union. I'm glad to say that our deputies are making progress on this, and I am confident that we will reach agreement on a work plan to continue to strengthen our Banking Union. We agreed very strongly on the need for this work plan to be balanced. Our banking system has proven its resilience to date during the era of Covid-19, and this is the result of our common efforts over the past decade in building up and in strengthening the Banking Union to this point. So we have achieved much, but today there was commitment from all to look at how we can achieve more. We have a strong commitment to ensure that European citizens and firms enjoy access to financing from robust and efficient financial services. Through our work, we will work to create conditions for an integrated, resilient and competitive system that will also contribute to the protection of taxpayers and depositors. From this, we moved on to our regular Eurogroup meeting. We started with my update to fellow ministers on recent international meetings. The world obviously is still in the midst of this terrible pandemic, and this was the key focus of our IMF and World Bank meetings. My takeaway, however, was one of optimism about the months ahead. Optimism about our economic policies, including within Europe, to support our societies towards an economic recovery, as we recover our health. Vaccination is accelerating, and we are already seeing encouraging signs coming through in some of our economic data due to our vaccination effort and beyond. Growth is forecast to accelerate sharply once the level of infections and the scope of containment measures are reduced. But this is not a moment to undermine the scale of the challenge we face. It is without precedent. But our response in Europe has been equally unprecedented in our speed and in our scale. And in the Eurogroup, we continue to be united in tackling the economic and social effects of the pandemic. This was reflected in the statement we issued last month. In fact, the support that we are making available to our economies is still increasing. Finance ministers across the euro area are adopting additional support packages, as demonstrated with recent announcements in Germany, Spain and Italy. And then, of course, building on all of that are the efforts from our Commission, led, amongst others, by Paolo, where we are working, and they are working so hard to implement our common Recovery and Resilience Plan as swiftly as possible. And from my own engagements with the Commission, I can see at first hand the huge effort and commitment that they are displaying to deliver the ambitions of the recovery funds. We need to continue to tailor our policy strategy to our challenges. That's why we will be coming back to a discussion on economic development in May. Our second discussion was on insolvency frameworks in the euro area. This is an important and also complex topic that we've discussed in the Eurogroup on a number of occasions. Well functioning insolvency frameworks can make a big difference to recovery. Under discussion today showed additional support for additional non-legislative measures to help our frameworks to converge, and we agreed to revisit this topic again. We then had a really positive exchange on the possible introduction of a digital euro. The ECB presented the outcome of its public consultation. The Commission gave us an update on their work. There is, of course, substantial interest in this innovation, which has the potential to shape our daily lives in years to come, depending on if and how it's taking forward. The consultation showed that issues linked to privacy, security and ensuring the reach of this project, if it goes ahead, ranked highest in our citizens and businesses priorities. Our discussion also covered financial stability, including the potential impact on banks and financial inclusion, including the impact a digital euro could have on the use of physical cash. This is an important project, not just technically, but also politically, and I expect that Eurogroup ministers will play an important role in considering the case for and the political dimensions of a digital currency. This is something that the Eurogroup will be reflecting further on, and we will be discussing and engaging on this issue again, while fully respecting the institutional roles and the independence of all involved in this work. Finally, we briefly took stock of our important work on transparency. We review this regularly, and this review today, confirmed to us that the Eurogroup has become much more transparent in recent years and that there is a strong commitment on behalf of all of us to maintain this standard going forward. The EU will provide new funding for the effective implementation of the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT). The Council today adopted a decision allowing the EU… View in browser Press material Friday 16 April 2021   ● Council of the EU   16/04/2021 14:16 | Press release | Arms Trade Treaty: EU steps up support in fight against illicit arms trade   The EU will provide new funding for the effective implementation of the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT). The Council today adopted a decision allowing the EU to support three projects of the ATT Secretariat in Geneva with a contribution of EUR 1.37 million. The aim is to help states parties to the treaty to strengthen their national arms export control systems. Export control systems are key instruments for preventing the diversion of, and illicit trade in arms, and contribute to more responsible trade in military equipment and technology. More specifically, the EU’s support will enable the following actions: - training local and regional ATT experts to deliver implementation assistance and reduce reliance on external consultants; - creating a database to match treaty implementation needs and resources; and - building IT and communications mechanisms to enable more effective cooperation between states parties’ points of contact and the ATT Secretariat. The project also strengthens the ATT Secretariatʼs institutional capacity to provide sustainable support to the states parties. It fits within the recently adopted strategy to strengthen the EUʼs contribution to rules-based multilateralism, by promoting global peace and security. This decision is also part of the EUʼs longstanding support of the ATT. In addition to facilitating early negotiations on the treaty, the EU has provided approx. EUR 15 million for numerous projects aimed at promoting its universal adoption and implementation. The ATTʼs universal adoption and implementation are crucial to the reduction of violence and human suffering in conflict-affected regions. In force since December 2014, the Arms Trade Treaty regulates international trade in conventional arms, their parts and ammunition, with the goal of eradicating the illicit sale and diversion thereof. All EU Member States are parties to the Treaty. The ATT Secretariat manages the reporting by states parties, their national points of contact, and national control lists. In addition to organising the conferences of states parties and intersessional work, it also administers the ATT Voluntary Trust Fund, which assists states’ implementation of the Treaty.

Press material Friday 16 April 2021

● General Secretariat   16/04/2021 19:43 | Press release | Forward look: 19 April - 2 May 2021   Overview of the main topics and events at the Council of EU and European Council for the coming fortnight The location and the format (physical or virtual) indicated for each meeting are subject to change. Informal video conference of foreign affairs ministers, Monday 19 April EU ministers of foreign affairs will be briefed about current affairs and exchange views on Ethiopia, Ukraine and the Western Balkans. Informal video conference of European affairs ministers, Tuesday 20 April Ministers will focus on EU-UK relations, EU coordination on COVID-19 and the annual rule of law dialogue. Informal video conference of agriculture ministers, Monday 26 April Ministers will discuss the agricultural market situation, trade-related agricultural issues and will also hear from the presidency on the current state of play of the post-2020 CAP reform package. Indicative calendar of meetings under the Portuguese presidency (1 January - 30 June 2021) Portuguese presidency website Meetings Friday 16 April 2021   ● Council of the EU   16/04/2021 19:30 | MEETING | Informal video conference of economic and finance ministers, 16/04/2021   Ministers exchanged views on issues related to economic recovery in Europe. They also focused on the future of the European financial architecture for development, the Capital Markets Union and international meetings. Meetings Friday 16 April 2021   ● Eurogroup   16/04/2021 16:25 | MEETING | Video conference of the Eurogroup, 16/04/2021   The Eurogroup held a discussion on insolvency frameworks and looked into ongoing work on the euro as a digital currency. Ministers were also briefed about the outcomes of recent international meetings, and reviewed the Eurogroup's transparency policy. Finance ministers of the EU27 discussed the state-of-play of work on completion of the banking union. Συνεδριάσεις Παρασκευή 16 Απριλίου 2021   ● Συμβούλιο της ΕΕ   16/04/2021 17:10 | ΣΥΝΕΔΡΊΑΣΗ | Άτυπη βιντεοδιάσκεψη των υπουργών Ευρωπαϊκών Υποθέσεων, 20/04/2021   Οι υπουργοί Ευρωπαϊκών Υποθέσεων θα συνεδριάσουν μέσω βιντεοδιάσκεψης για να αποτιμήσουν τις σχέσεις ΕΕ-Ηνωμένου Βασιλείου και τον συντονισμό της ΕΕ όσον αφορά την COVID-19. Επίσης, στο πλαίσιο του ετήσιου διαλόγου για το κράτος δικαίου, θα πραγματοποιήσουν συζήτηση ανά χώρα και θα ενημερωθούν από την Προεδρία σχετικά με τις προπαρασκευαστικές εργασίες ενόψει της Διάσκεψης για το μέλλον της Ευρώπης, καθώς και σχετικά με τη διεύρυνση και τη διαδικασία σταθεροποίησης και σύνδεσης. Meetings Friday 16 April 2021   ● Council of the EU   16/04/2021 17:10 | MEETING | Informal video conference of European affairs ministers, 20/04/2021   European affairs ministers will meet via video conference to take stock of EU-UK relations and COVID-19 EU coordination. They will also have a country-specific discussion under the annual rule of law dialogue, and will be informed by the presidency about preparations for the Conference on the Future of Europe and on the enlargement and stabilisation and association process. Library blog Thursday 15 April 2021   ● General Secretariat of the Council   Trade policies and politics - analysing the trends with Politico PRO   On April 14 the Council Library invited Cornelius Hirsch, an Intelligence Analyst for Politico Europe, for a webinar to discuss analysing trends in trade politics and policies. Library blog Thursday 15 April 2021   ● General Secretariat of the Council   Think Tanks' reports on COVID-19 and the recovery fund   The geo-economics and geopolitics of Covid-19 and their implications for European security, the impact of the pandemic on global industrial production, and variation in vaccination efforts across countries are some of the topics featured in this update.