Press release
Minister Donohoe to chair Eurogroup and attend the Informal ECOFIN in Prague
Published on
Last updated on
Published on
Last updated on
The Minister for Finance and President of the Eurogroup Paschal Donohoe travels this evening (Thursday) to Prague, for meetings with European Finance Ministers.
Tomorrow morning (Friday), Minister Donohoe will chair the Eurogroup, where euro area finance ministers will discuss the economic situation and the coordination of macroeconomic policies in the euro area. The Eurogroup will exchange views with Ms Irene Tinagli, Chair of the ECON Committee of the European Parliament, on macro-economic developments in the euro area, including energy, inflation and their impacts of fiscal policy. The ECB will debrief Ministers on the monetary policy decisions taken by the ECB Governing Council today.
As it has fulfilled all obligations in order to adopt the euro from 1 January 2023, Croatia will join the Eurogroup as an observer in the interim, bringing the number of ministers within the Eurogroup to twenty.
In Inclusive format, EU27 finance ministers will be updated by the ECB and the Commission on the progress of the digital euro project, hear about the work on Central Bank Digital Currencies in non-euro area Member States and global developments in this area, and exchange views on these subjects.
On Friday afternoon, during the first working session of the Informal ECOFIN, finance ministers will discuss Russian aggression against Ukraine, and how to handle economic and financial consequences for Europe.
On Saturday 10 September, in two further informal ECOFIN working sessions, ministers will discuss the Economic Governance Framework of the EU’s fiscal rules, and Income Tax.
Speaking ahead of the meetings, Minister Donohoe said:
“The euro area now confronts another economic challenge - an energy price shock caused by the war on Ukraine. However, we will overcome this challenge and we are confident in our resilience and our ability to recover.
"At Eurogroup, we will discuss how best to intervene in order to support vulnerable households and businesses to face this unprecedented shock. Reducing inflation is a key priority, so our interventions will be coordinated with ECB monetary policy and aim to avoid adding to inflationary pressures.
"I look forward to hearing from President Lagarde on the implications of the ECB Governing Council’s decisions, so finance ministers can ensure our fiscal policies are complementary.”