Press release
Minister Donohoe travels to Paris to chair Eurogroup and attend informal ECOFIN
Published on
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Published on
Last updated on
The Minister for Finance and President of the Eurogroup, Paschal Donohoe T.D., is travelling to Paris today for a series of meetings.
On Friday 25 February, Minister Donohoe will chair the Eurogroup meeting and will attend the informal ECOFIN taking place over Friday and Saturday. The evolving geopolitical situation and its economic consequences will feature prominently in the discussions.
EU finance ministers will follow up on the outcome of the emergency European Council convened in Brussels at 19:00 today in view of Russia’s unprecedented and unprovoked military aggression of Ukraine. EU leaders are due to discuss further actions to impose massive and severe consequences on Russia for its actions, and provide strong political, financial and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine and its people.
Speaking today, Minister Donohoe stated:
“Ireland and the EU strongly condemn Russia´s unjustified attack on Ukraine. In these dark hours, our thoughts are with Ukraine and the innocent women, men and children as they face this unprovoked attack and fear for their lives. We will hold Russia accountable, and we invite all like-minded and allies to join our efforts to uphold international law and reject this illegal action by the Kremlin. As the situation evolves, it is important that we, Europeans, continue to demonstrate our unity of purpose through strong, collective actions. We will discuss the economic consequences of the evolving security situation at our meeting of EU finance ministers tomorrow.”
The Eurogroup will also feature discussions on the euro area dimension of macroeconomic imbalance procedure, and an update on the state of play of the digital euro project where Ministers will agree a statement of political intent on the process. The Eurogroup will be updated on Greece’s early repayment of its outstanding International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan this spring and the partial prepayment of its loans under the Greek Loan Facility (GLF) at the end of this year.
ECOFIN working sessions will include discussions on geo-politics and how to reinforce European economic power on the global stage, consider economic policy for 2030, innovation and risk-taking in the EU, and how to ensure a fair and inclusive climate change response.
In addition, Minister Donohoe is also scheduled to hold a number of bilateral engagements. On Thursday 24 February, he is scheduled to meet with Mathias Cormann, Secretary-General of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). He will meet with Odile Renaud-Basso, President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). Later, Minister Donohoe will be speaking at EUROFI High Level Seminar 2022 , giving the introductory remarks for the session on, ‘How to improve Economic and Monetary Union given increasing economic and financial fragmentation?’
ENDS
Note to Editor: Minister Donohoe was elected President of the Eurogroup in July 2020. Further information on the Eurogroup Work programme can be found at: