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The Minister for Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery, and Reform and President of the Eurogroup, Paschal Donohoe, T.D., is in Brussels today (Monday) to chair the March Eurogroup meeting of European Finance Ministers. He will also attend the Macroeconomic Dialogue meeting, which is a forum for discussion with the European social partners on economic developments and prospects. 

On Tuesday, the Minister will attend part of the Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) meeting to debrief on Eurogroup discussions.

The Eurogroup meeting will begin with a discussion on macroeconomic and fiscal developments with a focus on budgetary policy. This will be informed by the Commission’s communication on fiscal policy guidance for 2024 (published on 8 March). The Eurogroup will reflect on this key document and will look to agree a statement on fiscal policy guidance for the euro area for 2024. The second item will look to prepare Ministers for the upcoming Spring meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund with a focus on global economic developments and exchange rates. Following this, the Eurogroup will discuss the main drivers of inflation.  The fourth agenda item includes a discussion on euro area specific aspects of the economic governance review. Eurogroup will look to agree text to be included in the draft Council Conclusions on the review due later this month. The final agenda item will see the Eurogroup returning to the topic of the digital euro with Ministers exchanging views on the strategic policy objectives.

Speaking ahead of the Eurogroup, Minister Donohoe commented:

“The March Eurogroup meeting has a busy agenda with a lot of ground to be covered from economic developments, to budgetary policy, the economic governance review and the digital euro. A key objective will be to agree a statement on budgetary policy guidance for 2024. 

"Eurogroup members have coordinated their fiscal policies very closely to date on the basis of a strong consensus and this approach has worked, so I will be looking for us to again provide clarity and strong messaging as Ministers prepare budgets for next year.” 

ENDS

Notes to Editors

On Monday prior to Eurogroup, Minister Donohoe will attend the Macroeconomic Dialogue meeting, which is a forum for discussion with Europe’s social partners (These meetings occur biannually and also include the Council presidency, the ECB and the European Commission).