Remarks by Paschal Donohoe following the Eurogroup meeting of 17 February 2025

 

Press material Monday, 17 February 2025

● Eurogroup   17/02/2025 20:33 | Statements and remarks | Remarks by Paschal Donohoe following the Eurogroup meeting of 17 February 2025   We began our February Eurogroup meeting by welcoming the Bulgarian Minister for Finance, Temenuzhka Petkova, who updated us on Bulgaria's progress towards fulfilling the criteria to adopt the euro. We appreciate Bulgaria’s ongoing efforts and its commitment to economic stability and convergence with the euro area. We continue to monitor its progress towards the objective of joining the euro area. Once Bulgaria considers it is ready to submit a request for ad hoc convergence reports to the Commission and the ECB, it will be for the institutions to assess whether all the criteria to guarantee a successful integration into the euro area are fulfilled. In the meantime, the Eurogroup is supportive of Bulgaria's ambition on its path towards the introduction of the euro at the appropriate time. We then turned to a discussion on economic developments and prospects for the euro area in a rapidly evolving global landscape. We get questions every day about announcements from other countries and what they mean for the euro area. I can understand this interest and the need for answers. The institutions today presented us with their analysis and views and we had a very useful exchange. The discussion today confirmed the clear determination of all members of the euro area to remain united on the issues at hand. We remembered that we've already steered through several crises and come out stronger. Parts of our economy are still adjusting to the energy shock, but fundamentally, we have been more resilient than many would have expected. We outlined today the work that we need to do. We recommitted ourselves to familiar projects. We acknowledged the strength of what is there within the euro area at the moment - the credible policies to bring down inflation, deficits and debt. A diversified economy with a rich structure of firms that have established global value chains, skilled workers, quality infrastructure, a knowledge economy, high savings rates, and a stable and well regulated financial sector. Yes, there are concerns. There is work to do, but we are very clearly a strong link in the world economy. On the subject of further work to do, our next item was on the recommendation on the economic policy of the euro area for 2025, which sets out three priority areas where euro area member states and the Eurogroup will be taking action. I'm pleased to announce that the Eurogroup agreed to this recommendation, based on the proposal of the Commission. In the current complex economic environment, the euro area recommendation is as relevant as ever, in particular where it relates to competitiveness, resilience and macroeconomic and financial stability. The annual euro area recommendation holds significant political weight, but past recommendations have not always been used to the full potential. So there was agreement amongst ministers on making enhanced use of the recommendation through more structured, more effective and more consistent follow up, particularly in shaping the future Eurogroup's competitiveness agenda. We also adopted our work programme until July, which is about putting into practice the policy priorities that we discussed in January and February. Ultimately, we're here to deliver results for our economies, for our citizens, and to navigate through choppy waters. The work programme focussed on five priority policy areas: budget coordination; keeping up the momentum of capital markets union; progressing with the banking union; competitiveness with the objective of building on our work from last year and focussing notably on productivity; and finally a common currency, notably the digital euro project and the international role of the euro, which comes into fresh focus in a fast-evolving geopolitical landscape. This is all reflected in the work programme we just issued, which I encourage you to consider. We then finished with a presentation of the policy priorities of the new governments of Belgium and of my own country, Ireland, which brought our meeting to a close.