EU’s finance ministers and governors focus on the future
On Thursday the informal meeting of finance ministers begins in Göteborg.
The meeting is held over two days, 1 and 2 October. The EU’s finance ministers and governors of central banks will discuss how countries can restore good order to the public finances when the need for support measures recedes. They will also talk about how the EU can create a framework to prevent a similarly widespread crisis from happening again.
Other issues on the agenda are how the EU and the Member States can prevent unemployment becoming entrenched and how climate and environmental change can be curbed.
Four themes to discussion
The discussions at the informal meeting of finance ministers will cover four themes:
* principles for returning to balanced public finances in the long term
* a framework for financial stability
* measures against lasting unemployment
* financing of measures against climate change
Principles for returning to balanced public finances in the long term
It is important to let the stimulus measures which countries have introduced during the financial and economic crisis remain in effect until there has been a clear recovery in the economy and the situation on the financial markets has returned to normal. The finance ministers will discuss some basic principles for the phasing out of these stimulus measures, known as ‘exit strategies’. The crisis and the stimulus measures have placed extraordinary strain on public finances. One key challenge is to gain the maximum stabilising effects from the measures at the same time as minimising the long-term negative after-effects.
A framework for financial stability
During a working session the finance ministers and the governors of central banks will discuss the development of stabilisation arrangements in the EU to prevent, manage and remedy future crises. Another topic of discussion what form the process to agree a new European supervision structure during the Swedish Presidency will take.
Measures against lasting unemployment
Many Member States risk sharply rising unemployment, which can become stuck at a high level and risk becoming structural. The finance ministers will have an informal discussion on how to reduce the risk of lasting unemployment.
Financing of measures against climate change
An important aspect of the discussion on climate change is how to reach the goals that have been set. This work requires well functioning economic instruments, and part of the discussion will therefore address cost-effective instruments, for example carbon dioxide taxation. The other part of the discussion will address how international financing is to be made available for necessary measures to tackle climate change, so as to create the necessary conditions for an agreement at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December.
Informal meetings twice a year
The informal Ecofin meetings bring together the finance ministers and central bank governors of all EU countries. The meetings are held twice a year to discuss issues of common interest. The presidents of the European Central Bank (ECB) and European Investment Bank (EIB) also attend.
No formal decisions are taken on these occasions, but agreements can be reached on political guidelines for later EU cooperation. The finance ministers also meet at formal meetings of the Economic and Financial Affairs Council, usually once a month.
Topics: climate change, Ecofin, economic instruments, Economy, financing
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