Minister McGrath travels to Brussels to attend March ECOFIN and Eurogroup meetings

On Monday 11th March, Minister for Finance Michael McGrath will travel to Brussels to represent Ireland at the March ECOFIN and Eurogroup meetings.

Speaking ahead of the meeting Minister McGrath stated:

"I look forward to an engaging two days of discussions with my European colleagues on a number of key issues. In a departure from our usual processes, the Belgian Presidency has invited our Ministerial colleagues from the Employment and Social Affairs Committee to join us for a policy debate on the interaction between social investment and reforms, economic growth and upward social convergence. Returning to the standard format, we will then discuss the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Facility, the economic and financial impact of Russia's aggression against Ukraine, the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting in Sao Paolo and a number of important items regarding the EU Budget."

Starting at the Eurogroup on Monday afternoon, Minister McGrath will join his euro area colleagues in discussing macroeconomic developments and fiscal policy in the euro area in 2025. This will be followed by a dialogue on the future of the Capital Markets Union, as well as preparation for the March Euro Summit.

ECOFIN begins on Tuesday morning with a formal working breakfast and the usual updates on the economic situation as well as a debrief from Eurogroup the previous day.

Following on from the breakfast, ECOFIN Ministers will be joined by their EPSCO* Ministerial colleagues for a joint discussion on social investment and reforms for resilient economies. Following on from this, Ministers will review the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Facility. There will then be an exchange of views on the economic and financial impact of Russia's aggression against Ukraine and a briefing from the EU Presidency and the Commission on the follow-up to the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting on 26-29th February 2024.

The final items on the agenda, relating to the EU budget, are the recommendation on the discharge to be given to the Commission in respect of the implementation of the budget for 2022 and conclusions on the budget guidelines for 2025.

Note for editors:

The EPSCO Council brings together ministers responsible for employment, social affairs, health and consumer policy from all EU Member States.

The Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) brings together finance ministers.

ENDS