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Press material Tuesday 7 March 2023

● Council of the EU   07/03/2023 10:54 | Press release | Council takes action to mitigate risk of medical devices shortage   Today the Council adopted a regulation which extends the deadline for the certification of medical devices. This measure aims to prevent that medical devices which cannot be certified by the initial cut-off date become unavailable for European patients. "Today we have agreed on measures that will allow the industry to continue bringing essential medical devices to the market and ensure that patients have safe access to medical devices." Acko Ankarberg Johansson, Swedish minister for health care A staggered and conditional extension Producers of medical devices will now have until 31 December 2027 for higher risk devices and until 31 December 2028 for medium and lower risk devices to meet the legal requirements. The extension of the transition period will be granted under certain conditions. These ensure that only devices that are safe and for which manufacturers have already started the certification procedure will benefit from the additional time. Removal of “sell-off” date The regulation adopted today also reduces the risk of medical devices shortages by removing the “sell-off” date rule. The “sell-off” date is the end date after which devices already on the market but not yet with the final user should be withdrawn. Only devices that comply with the previous EU law on medical devices will benefit from this rule. Removing the "sell-off" date will allow safe medical devices to remain longer on the market.

Press material Monday 6 March 2023

● Eurogroup   06/03/2023 14:52 | Press release | Eurogroup statement on the updated draft budgetary plan of Latvia   The Eurogroup welcomes the submission of the updated draft budgetary plan for 2023 of Latvia on 7 February, as well as the Commission Opinion issued on 24 February 2023. We recall that the fiscal guidance for 2023 included in the Council recommendations of 12 July 2022 differentiated between member states with high debt levels and those with low/medium debt levels, depending on their fiscal and economic situation. Low/medium debt member states should aim at a neutral fiscal policy stance. According to the Commission assessment, the draft budgetary plan of Latvia is in line with the fiscal guidance for 2023 contained in the Council recommendation to Latvia: the contribution of nationally financed current expenditure to the overall fiscal stance is expected to be broadly neutral. However compliance risks would arise should Latvia adopt additional energy support or other deficit-increasing measures. We agree with the Commission’s assessment. We note that the overall fiscal policy stance is estimated to be expansionary in a situation of high inflation, driven however by higher investment. We welcome that the plan aims to preserve nationally financed investment in 2023. Investment will also be supported through the Recovery and Resilience Facility. We will in 2023, for Latvia, as well as for all euro area member states, examine the budgetary measures to mitigate the impact of high energy prices as outlined in our statement on the draft budgetary plans from 5 December 2022. The Eurogroup will continue to closely monitor economic developments in the euro area and commits to further reinforce policy coordination in order to deliver a determined and agile policy response.

07/03/2023 00:00 | Event Informal meeting of defence ministers On 7–8 March, EU defence ministers will be in Stockholm to attend an informal meeting within the framework of the Foreign Affairs Council (Defence).

Informal meeting of defence ministers


Informal ministerial meeting

7 - 8 March 2023
Informal meeting of defence ministers
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Video message from Swedish Minister for Defence Pål Jonson.

Practical information

Date

7 - 8 March 2023

Place

Scandinavian XPO

Location

Stockholm, Sweden

Organiser

Government Offices of Sweden


On 7–8 March, EU defence ministers will be in Stockholm to attend an informal meeting within the framework of the Foreign Affairs Council (Defence).

The meeting will start with a dinner on 7 March. On 8 March, the meeting will continue at Scandinavian XPO.
Session one: The EU’s military support to Ukraine

The defence ministers will first discuss the EU’s military support to Ukraine, especially the training of the Ukrainian armed forces by the EU’s assistance mission to Ukraine (EUMAM Ukraine). The mission commanders will provide a status update at this session. A representative from Ukraine will also be participating.

The defence ministers will also discuss financing the procurement of artillery ammunition in support of Ukraine.

Background: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
Session two: Current affairs

The defence ministers will discuss current affairs, including EU military operations.
Session three: Working lunch with UN and NATO representatives

The meeting will conclude with a working lunch with UN and NATO representatives.

Background: EU’s role as security actor
Contact

Elin Schiffer, elin.schiffer@gov.se

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