From Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform
Published on
Last updated on
The Minister for Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform and President of the Eurogroup, Paschal Donohoe, is in Brussels today (Monday) to chair the May Eurogroup meeting of European Finance Ministers. On Tuesday, the Minister will attend part of the Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) meeting to debrief on Eurogroup discussions.
The Eurogroup meeting will begin with a discussion on macroeconomic developments in the euro area. This will be informed by the Commission’s spring economic forecasts (published also on 15 May).
Following this, Ministers will have a discussion on the corporate sector and related structural challenges. The third agenda item includes a debrief on recent international meetings attended by the President of the Eurogroup. This includes the IMF Spring meetings and the May G7 meeting of Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors in Japan.
Eurogroup will then meet in an extended format (including Bulgaria) to discuss developments in the Banking Union, which will include regular reports from the Chairs of the Single Supervision Mechanism and the Single Resolution Board.
The Eurogroup meeting will conclude in inclusive format (all 27 Member States) to discuss international aspects of central bank digital currencies as part of further work on the digital euro. Following this, the Minister will set out views on how to advance Capital Markets Union, as a follow-up to the March Euro Summit statement from leaders, which called for further work.
Speaking ahead of the Eurogroup, Minister Donohoe commented:
“The Eurogroup meeting for May has a really full agenda. We will discuss the outlook for the euro area economy, which to date has been remarkably resilient, as well as the structural challenges for the corporate sector in the euro area. Having just attended the G7 meeting in Niigata, I will debrief colleagues on our discussions on the importance of ensuring continued support to Ukraine and the importance of international cooperation to enhance global economic resilience.
“We will hear a report from our regulatory supervisors on the banking sector in Europe. We will also discuss ongoing developments on the digital euro.
“I will close out the meeting by hearing views on how the Eurogroup can concretely respond to EU leaders’ call for work on deepening the Capital Markets Union. This will be a key area of work for the Eurogroup in the months ahead.”