Finance Ministers of the Eurogroup Monday re-elected by consensus Paschal Donohoe, Minister for Finance of Ireland, as President of the Eurogroup, for a second term of two and a half years that will start from 13 January 2023.
“It is a great honour to serve as President of the Eurogroup and I am grateful that my fellow ministers entrust me with chairing our discussions for a second term,” said Donohoe after this election at the meeting in Brussels.
“Since autumn 2021, the Eurogroup has been at the forefront in both assessing and analysing the impact of higher energy prices and inflation on the euro area economy. Now that I am reelected, my first priority will be to strengthen this coordination,” he said.
The President has been in office since 13 July 2020.
The Eurogroup is an informal body where ministers of euro area member states discuss matters of common concern in relation to sharing the euro as the single currency.
The first Eurogroup meeting took place on 4 June 1998 in Luxembourg.
Meanwhile, the Eurogroup in a statement said the meeting reviewed the economic and fiscal situation of the euro area member states and the release of the final tranche of debt measures to Greece.
EU Commissioner for Economy Paolo Gentiloni told a press conference after the meeting this evening “on the economic outlook, our economic forecast presented only one month ago is still solid.” Survey data are confirming our estimations that we will have a couple of quarters of contraction in winter and that growth will remain subdued next year, he noted.
On Greece, the Eurogroup concluded that the necessary conditions were in place to confirm the release of the eighth and final tranche of policy-contingent debt measures as well as the abolition of the step-up interest rate margin from 2023.
“This is nothing less than a historic moment. The release of the final tranche of debt measures is an important milestone for the Greek government and for all of us. Greece financially stands on its own feet again and, as part of the European family, participates in our standard fiscal and economic EU coordination procedures,” said Donohoe.
Source-KUNA