Eurogroup and ECOFIN meetings, 11 and 12 February 2019

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Vice-President Dombrovskis, Commissioner Oettinger and Commissioner Moscovici will represent the Commission at today’s Eurogroup meeting.

The Eurogroup will discuss the main findings of the Commission’s post-programme surveillance missions to Ireland and Portugal. It will discuss the economic outlook for the euro area on the basis of the Commission’s Winter 2019 Economic Forecast. Ministers will also hold an exchange of views on the nomination for the upcoming vacancy on the Executive Board of the European Central Bank. The Eurogroup will then continue in an inclusive format, where Commissioner Oettinger will join the meeting to discuss the deepening of the Economic and Monetary Union, following up on the December 2018 Euro Summit. Commissioner Moscovici will participate in the press conference following the meeting. At tomorrow’s ECOFIN meeting, Vice-President Dombrovskis, Commissioner Oettinger and Commissioner Moscovici will represent the Commission. Ministers are expected to confirm the Council’s general approach on the review of the EU’s existing architecture of financial supervision, including anti-money laundering related measures, a key initiative for the Capital Markets Union, which the Commission proposed in September 2017 and complemented in September 2018. The Council will also discuss the Commission’s recent initiative seeking to launch the debate on a gradual transition to more efficient and democratic decision-making in EU tax policy. Ministers will agree conclusions on the Commission’s fiscal sustainability report for 2018. The Council may also issue a recommendation on the nomination of a new member of the European Central Bank’s Executive Board depending on the outcome of Monday’s Eurogroup. Commissioner Oettinger will attend the ECOFIN for items related to the EU budget, where the Council is expected to adopt guidelines for the 2020 EU budget and a recommendation on the discharge of the 2017 EU budget. A press conference with Vice-President Dombrovskis will follow the meeting. 

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