Tánaiste, Minister for Finance, has spoken with President of the European Central Bank, Christine Lagarde

Tánaiste and the newly appointed Minister for Finance Simon Harris T,D., last night, held a phone call with the President of the European Central Bank (ECB) Christine Lagarde.

The Tánaiste and Ms Lagarde discussed a range of matters including EU inflation, the need to address Europe’s competitiveness challenge and finding consensus on issues such as integrating the European Banking sector and deepening capital markets.

The pair also discussed the introduction of the ‘Digital Euro’ , which is currently going through the EU legislative process.  

Earlier, the Tánaiste was in contact with the Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves MP.

Ms Reeves congratulated the Tánaiste on his appointment as Finance Minister and both agreed to meet in person in the near future.

Simon Harris also today met with the chairman of the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (IFAC) Seamus Coffey in the Department of Finance.

He said afterwards that IFAC makes an important contribution in terms of adding to the quality of public debate on budget quality.

And last night, the Tánaiste began a series of phone calls with fellow EU Finance Ministers, beginning with Greek Minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis, who is due to visit Dublin on Monday week.

Ends.