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Press release

Minister Michael McGrath travels to Luxembourg to represent Ireland at ECOFIN and Eurogroup meetings

On Thursday 20 June, Minister for Finance Michael McGrath will travel to Luxembourg to represent Ireland at the June ECOFIN and Eurogroup meetings.

Speaking ahead of the meetings, Minister McGrath stated:

"This will be a busy two days of discussions with my Ministerial colleagues from across Europe. As usual, we will look at the ongoing implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Facility, but this month I am pleased to welcome the Council’s endorsement of Ireland’s revised Recovery and Resilience Plan. Our new REPowerEU chapter will make a valuable contribution to the green transition here in Ireland.

"My colleagues and I will also consider a wide number of other important issues, including reforms of the EU’s Value-Added Tax system which will make the system work better for businesses and reduce fraud.

"There will be an exchange on the ongoing economic and financial impact of Russia’s war against Ukraine, along with new proposals on how Europe can bolster the support we are providing. We will also be looking at the latest elements of the European Semester, the annual process of coordinating economic policy to deliver sustainable growth, jobs and sound public finances for our citizens across the EU."

The meetings start with the Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM)*. Ireland’s Governor is Minister McGrath.

Following this, Minister McGrath will join his euro area colleagues at Eurogroup on Thursday afternoon. There will be a stock-take on the international role of the euro before a discussion on the regular IMF review of euro area policies. The Eurogroup in inclusive format** will then commence, allowing Ministers to continue their discussions on euro area competitiveness, with a focus on the role of industrial policy and market integration.

Friday morning starts with a meeting of the Board of Governors of the European Investment Bank (EIB) ***. Minister McGrath is Ireland’s Governor at the EIB.

ECOFIN follows with the usual working breakfast discussion of the economic situation as well as a debrief from Eurogroup the previous day.

After the breakfast, there will an exchange of views amongst Ministers on the economic and financial impact of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, where Ministers will look at new proposals for supporting Ukraine. This will be followed by another discussion of the ‘VAT in the digital age’ package (referred to as ‘ViDA’) which looks at updating VAT frameworks to account for the increased digitalisation of our economies.

The Commission will also provide updates on current financial services legislative proposals and the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Facility, with approval sought for Ireland’s updated Recovery and Resilience Plan which includes our RePower EU chapter****.

There will then be a discussion item on the annual European Semester process – this annual exercise is how the EU coordinates economic and social policies to ensure sustainable economic growth, job creation and sound public finances.

Notes