John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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Question 139: To ask the Minister for Finance if he attended the informal ECOFIN meeting in Manchester on 9 and 10 September 2005; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26552/05]

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I attended the informal ECOFIN Council meeting in Manchester on 9 and 10 September. This meeting was attended by ministers for finance and governors of central banks of all 25 EU member states and of Bulgaria and Romania. As you will be aware, no formal decisions are adopted at informal ECOFIN Council meetings but a useful and informative exchange of views took place on a number of issues, including the following: On responding to the challenges of globalisation, the meeting emphasised the need for trade openness, globally and between the EU and its major trade and investment partners, and the need for constant up-skilling of the labour force through investment in education and training in order to be able to exploit new areas of comparative advantage. On development financing — the EU statement for the UN high level meeting on financing for development of 14 September was agreed. On implementation of stability and growth pact — Ministers reached political agreement on the existence of an excessive budget deficit in Portugal. In accordance with the new provisions of the pact, and in light of relevant factors, including the cyclical slowdown and the size of the adjustment required, Portugal was to be allowed six months to present corrective action and until 2008 at the latest to bring its excessive deficit to an end. On the current economic situation and financial stability, the EU Presidency statement for the international monetary and financial committee of the IMF was agreed and a statement on rising oil prices was also made. Ireland agreed with the consensus that oil prices are likely to remain high for the foreseeable future and that short term policy responses should avoid being distortionary and should not have the effect of postponing the necessary adjustment by economic agents to the new higher oil price environment; On the West Bank and Gaza, Ministers agreed on the importance of supporting economic regeneration in the West Bank and Gaza Strip at this historic time. They welcomed options for increased EU support for infrastructure and the private sector, delivered jointly by the Commission and the European Investment Bank through technical assistance and appropriate financial resources. On counter-terrorist financing, Ministers repeated their commitment to international standards to tackle terrorist finance and money-laundering, implement these standards themselves in Europe and help other countries do so. A key element of this approach must be international technical assistance to countries. Ministers agreed that they would work together to emphasise at the IMF and the World Bank meetings later in September that international technical assistance must be co-ordinated, high quality and effective. Overall the meeting succeeded in making good progress on important issues as outlined in this reply.