COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,update

 

Press material Saturday, 26 October 2024

● Eurogroup   26/10/2024 09:41 | Press release | G7 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors’ statements, Washington, DC, 25 October 2024   The G7 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors met on 25 October 2024 in Washington, DC. They were joined by the Ukrainian Finance Minister Sergii Marchenko as well as the Heads of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank Group (WBG), Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and Financial Stability Board (FSB). They issued the following statements: G7 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors’ statement G7 Finance Ministers’ statement on Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration (ERA) Loan Initiative

● Council of the EU   25/10/2024 18:05 | Press release | EU Integrated Resolve 2024: EU concludes wide crisis response exercise   This is a joint press release issued by the Council of the European Union, the European Commission, and the European External Action Service. The EU has successfully concluded the EU Integrated Resolve 2024, a joint exercise co-led by the Council of the EU, the European Commission, as well as the European External Action Service. Over the past 6 months, the EU has planned and tested its overall preparedness and capacity to manage complex crises. This year’s edition of the exercise has significantly strengthened the EU’s ability to respond to potential hybrid crises, both inside and outside the EU. Starting on 30 September, the exercise unfolded in two subsequent phases. The first phase focused on the planning of a Common Security and Defence Policy military operation and coordination during a consular crisis. The second consisted of a series of simulated multilevel scenarios of a hybrid nature, including the evacuation of EU citizens from a conflict zone. EU institutions, bodies and agencies, 24 EU member states, Canada, the US and Norway, actively engaged in the exercise, testing their decision-making and operational capabilities and boosting preparedness and resilience. EU-level mechanisms supported the response to the complex hybrid crisis. This involved a debate at the level of EU member states' ambassadors and the activation of the Council’s Integrated Political Crisis Response arrangements, as well as the Commission’s crisis management instruments, e.g. the Emergency Response Coordination Centre, as part of the EU Civil Protection Mechanism. EU Integrated Resolve 2024 has also served to deepen the cooperation between the EU and NATO at staff level as foreseen in the 2016 Warsaw EU-NATO Joint Declaration. The exercise tested coordination of parallel crisis management between both organisations. This wide-scale exercise provided a timely opportunity to enhance the EU’s preparedness in line with the EU Strategic Compass, which outlines shared threat assessments and crisis response strategies. By simulating the response to potential hybrid threats and campaigns, including through disinformation, foreign information manipulation and interference in a specific situation, the EU is better prepared to ensure a swift, unified, and effective crisis management, response and communication in the event of a future challenge.

● Council of the EU

25/10/2024 17:24 | Press release | Forward look: 28 October - 10 November 2024   Overview of the main topics and events at the Council of EU and European Council for the coming fortnight. Economic and Financial Affairs Council, 5 November 2024 The Council will seek a political agreement on the value added tax (VAT) in the digital age package. The package consists of three proposals that set out to tackle VAT fraud, support businesses and promote digitalisation.  Ministers will take stock of the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) and the Council will aim to adopt implementing decisions approving modified recovery and resilience plans, submitted by some member states. Ministers will be informed of the state of play of the economic and financial impact of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. The Council will approve conclusions on the progress made on the EU’s statistical priorities, while providing guidance for further work. As a point without discussion, the Council will also adopt a regulation that aims to further improve the development, production and dissemination of European statistics. The Presidency will present the state of play of legislative proposals in the field of financial services. As a point without discussion, the Council will adopt two pieces of legislation that change the Solvency II directive, the EU's main piece of legislation in the insurance area, and introduce new rules on insurance recovery and resolution (IRRD). Read more Other meetings Eurogroup, 4 November 2024 Meeting of the European Political Community, 7 November 2024 Informal meeting of heads of state or government, Budapest, 8 November 2024   Indicative calendar of meetings under the Hungarian presidency (1 July - 31 December 2024) Hungarian presidency website ● European Council   25/10/2024 16:58 | Press release | Invitation letter for the European Political Community summit in Budapest   Today's reality is marked by multiple crises. Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine is in its third year and continues to rage. Increasingly deadly violence is igniting in the Middle-East threatening to further escalate. Conflicts and instability are also on the rise in Africa. Irregular migration and its instrumentalization poses an additional challenge to Europe. The global economy is once again heading towards fragmentation which is impacting our economic models. All this is putting peace, stability and prosperity at risk in our region. We are convinced that the decisions we make to address these crises will determine our future for decades to come. Building on the results of our previous summits we invite you to the fifth summit of the European Political Community in Budapest on 7 November 2024 to discuss the security challenges Europe is facing. We will begin our discussions with a morning plenary session on the security challenges, followed by four breakout sessions on the topics of migration and economic security. The session on migration will cover all aspects of migration, while the one on economic security will also discuss connectivity in terms of energy, transport, IT and also global trade. The chairs of each roundtable will report on the discussions at the second plenary session. We will conclude with interventions at the plenary on the topics of the breakout sessions. Ample opportunities will be provided for bilateral or multilateral meetings during the day. We look forward to welcoming you in Budapest. Invitation letter