Eurogroup and Economic and Financial Affairs Council meetings, 9 and 10 October 2019
Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis and Commissioner Pierre Moscovici will represent the European Commission at today’s Eurogroup meeting. The Chair of the European Central Bank’s (ECB) supervisory board, Andrea Enria will present the Board’s recent activities. The Chair of the Single Resolution Board (SRB) Elke König will inform the meeting about the SRB’s ongoing activities. Ministers will exchange views on developments in competitiveness in the euro area. The Commission and the ECB will inform ministers on the main findings of the 10th post-programme surveillance mission to Portugal. Ministers will then discuss the candidacy that has been put forward to replace the outgoing member of the ECB’s Executive Board, Benoît Cœuré. The President of the Eurogroup Mário Centeno will also invite Member States to nominate candidates to succeed ECB’s Executive Board Sabine Lautenschläger. The Eurogroup will have a follow-up discussion on the economic outlook in the euro area. Ministers will also take stock of exchange rate developments over the past months ahead of the annual meetings of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund from 14 to 20 October. Ministers will then continue in an inclusive format to follow up on the December 2018 Euro Summit and the June 2019 Euro Summit on further strengthening Europe’s Economic and Monetary Union. Since the December 2018 Euro Summit, discussions have proceeded on the future Budgetary Instrument for Convergence and Competitiveness (BICC) for the euro area, building on the Commission’s proposal for a Reform Support Programme from May 2018. Commissioner Pierre Moscovici will participate in the press conference following the meeting. Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis and Commissioner Věra Jourová will also participate in tomorrow’s Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) meeting. At the meeting, Ministers will discuss the progress achieved as regards implementation of measures in the field of anti-money laundering (AML), as well as future strategic priorities. Commissioner Jourová will present the four reports published by the Commission in July 2019, aimed at supporting European and national authorities in tackling money laundering and terrorist financing in the EU. In this context, Vice-President Dombrovskis will focus on the post-mortem report drawing lessons from past AML cases in European banks and will give the outlook for future actions. Commissioner Jourová will also inform ministers about the ongoing work on revising the methodology to identify high-risk third countries with strategic deficiencies in the area of anti-money laundering and countering terrorist financing, as required by the anti-money laundering Directive. Also on the agenda is the presentation of the report of the Wise Persons’ Group on how to maximise the added value of the EU’s financial architecture for development. Ministers will also take stock of the 2019 European Semester exercise, and are expected to adopt a Council recommendation on the appointment of a member of the ECB’s Executive Board. Finally, Ministers will receive a presentation by the European Court of Auditors of its annual report on the implementation of the EU budget for 2018 and will approve the latest update of the EU’s list of non-cooperative tax jurisdictions. Vice-President Dombrovskis will also inform the ministers about the progress made on the Capital Markets Union since the last informal ECOFIN in Helsinki. Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis will participate in the press conference following the meeting.