Written answers

Thursday, 28 April 2022

Photo of Neale RichmondNeale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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49. To ask the Minister for Finance if he will report on the recent meeting of the Eurogroup; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21167/22]

Photo of Paschal DonohoePaschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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The most recent Eurogroup was held on 4 April in Luxembourg.

Eurogroup opened with a discussion on economic developments related to the military aggression in Ukraine. The European Commission and the European Central Bank updated Ministers on the economic outlook for the euro area, and the European Stability Mechanism presented market updates. We acknowledged that we entered this crisis with solid fundamentals and robust growth prospects, but the challenges we are facing require an agile response.

Ministers restated their support and solidarity with Ukraine and the need to continue coordinating economic and fiscal policies in this uncertain environment.

Our next agenda item was an exchange of views on the digital euro project, focussing on the trade-offs in design between privacy and other important policy objectives such as preventing money laundering and illicit financing. The ECB presented design options, informed by findings from their recently concluded public consultation. Ministers confirmed that full anonymity is not a viable option for a digital euro, and supported further exploration of options for a risk-based approach, with selective privacy in the case of low value transactions and offline functionality. This would encourage the adoption of the digital euro while also supporting financial inclusion, which is a key objective. This project will continue to feature on the Eurogroup agenda in the coming months.

Eurogroup agreed a work programme of thematic discussions in September 2021, and in this meeting we exchanged views on housing market developments in the euro area, informed by a Commission note on the topic, with a focus on affordability for citizens.

We then held a meeting in Banking Union format. The Chair of Banking Supervision and the Chair of the Single Resolution Board (SRB) informed Ministers about the latest activities of their institutions, with updates on the euro area banking sector. The SRB Chair also presented recent resolution cases, demonstrating the effectiveness of the resolution framework and outlining lessons learned.

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