Press release
Minister Carroll MacNeill represents Ireland at November meetings of Eurogroup and ECOFIN
Published on
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Published on
Last updated on
This week, Minister of State with responsibility for Financial Services, Credit Unions and Insurance, Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, is in Brussels to represent Ireland at the November ECOFIN and Eurogroup meetings. Minister Carroll MacNeill will also represent Ireland at the ECOFIN (Budget) Council and the Conciliation Committee with the European Parliament.
Ahead of the meetings, Minister of State Carroll MacNeill stated:
"I’m looking forward to hearing the practical insights of industry participants at Eurogroup on how we can improve the EU’s capital and financial markets.
"ECOFIN offers an important opportunity for ministers to review progress on the ongoing discussions on the reform of Europe’s fiscal rules, a key pillar of economic coordination in the EU. We will also discuss the economic and financial impact of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, and a number of other regular updates as part of the European Semester process.
"Beyond this, there are a wide variety of far-reaching topics and projects – particularly Ireland’s AMLA bid – on which I look forward to engaging with colleagues from across the EU."
While in Brussels, the Minister of State will have meetings with Commissioner Mairead McGuinness, the Director General of DG Fisma, Sean Berrigan, to discuss financial services issues. She will also meet with industry representatives and Irish MEPs, and hold a number of bilateral engagements, to promote Ireland’s bid to host the new EU Anti-Money Laundering Authority (AMLA).
Minister Carroll MacNeill will participate in Eurogroup today (Wednesday). As part of the Eurogroup’s regular monitoring of economic developments, Ministers will reflect on the main challenges ahead in terms of the macroeconomic and budgetary outlook for 2024. Ministers will then consider a new workstream examining the competitiveness of the euro area, followed by a discussion on what remains to be done to preserve the resilience of the banking system and address challenges ahead.
The Eurogroup in inclusive format will discuss the future of European capital and financial markets. The focus for this item will be on institutional investors, including pension funds and markets, along with retail participation. Ministers will hear from guest speakers from Norges Bank Investment Management, the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund, and Dutch pension manager APG Asset Management, who will share their insights on how to strengthen the contribution of institutional investors to European capital markets. They will also discuss ways to increase retail participation so that EU citizens can benefit more from European capital markets.
ECOFIN starts on Thursday morning with a pre-breakfast ministerial dialogue between European Union Ministers and their counterparts from the European Free Trade Association (EFTA*). There will then be a formal working breakfast with the usual updates on the economic situation, a debrief from Eurogroup the previous day and an update on the ongoing work around the Economic Governance Review (EGR).
Following on from the breakfast discussion, Ministers will continue to consider the Economic Governance review. This is a complex discussion which will be divided up into a number of items, based on the Commission’s legislative proposals. There will then be an update on the economic and financial impact of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.
Ministers will also discuss the ongoing implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Facility with approval sought for the adoption of revised Recovery and Resilience Plans (RRP) from Sweden, Austria, Lithuania, and Denmark. This will be followed by a discussion on the lessons learnt from last year’s European semester process and a report on the quality of EU statistics. Ministers will look at the European Fiscal Board’s report on 2022 before finishing with a discussion on the European Court of Auditors’ annual report on the implementation of the budget of the European Union for the financial year 2022.
On Friday 10 November Minister of State Carroll MacNeill will represent Ireland at the ECOFIN (Budget) Council and the Conciliation Committee with the European Parliament, which convenes in Brussels for the purposes of agreeing the EU’s annual budget for 2024. The 2024 budget forms part of the EU’s multiannual financial framework (MFF) for 2021-2027 which was agreed in 2020 and provides for targeted supports for key sectors and activities across EU member states including agriculture, rural development, research, education, infrastructure and many others.
The European Free Trade Association (EFTA) is a regional trade organization and free trade area consisting of four European states: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.