The Minister for Finance, Paschal Donohoe TD, is in Brussels today (Friday) to participate in the Euro Summit in inclusive format, meeting with European Heads of State and Government in his capacity as President of the Eurogroup.
Minister Donohoe will take part in the discussion on the current economic situation, the further strengthening of the Banking Union, and the Capital Markets Union. He will also update leaders on the progress by Croatia towards adopting the euro as its currency and the advancement by Greece with reforms and to exit enhanced surveillance.
In advance of the meeting, Minister Donohoe wrote to the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, setting out the main issues that EU finance ministers are dealing with at Eurogroup [letter available here: untitled (europa.eu)].
Speaking ahead of his engagement, Minister Donohoe stated:
“It is a privilege to represent my Eurogroup colleagues, to inform our Leaders of the main issues on the agendas of finance ministers and how we plan to address them.
We are facing into a very challenging economic situation. However, we are in a very different place than when we faced crisis a decade ago: we have strengthened the Economic and Monetary Union framework and we have the necessary tools to deal with these headwinds.
The euro area is resilient. Despite elevated uncertainty and strong headwinds, linked in particular to Russia’s unjustified aggression towards Ukraine, the conditions are in place for continued economic growth and the European Commission still expects the euro area to grow this year (by +2.7%) and in 2023 (+2.3%).
I will also update Leaders on three positive developments from last week: first, the progress by Croatia towards adopting the euro; second, the advancement by Greece with reforms and to exit enhanced surveillance; and, finally, our agreement for tangible progress on the Banking Union.”
