Estonian finmin to attend Eurogroup, ECOFIN meetings in Luxembourg

  • 2019-10-09
  • BNS/TBT Staff

TALLINN - Estonian Minister of Finance Martin Helme and deputy secretary general of the Estonian Ministry of Finance Marten Ross are to attend meetings of the finance ministers of the euro area (Eurogroup) and the Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) in Luxembourg on Wednesday and Thursday.

The agenda of the Eurogroup meeting includes an overview of the main findings of the post-program surveillance mission to Portugal, the Banking Union's report on eurozone aspects and replacing an outgoing member of the European Central Bank's executive board. Competitiveness developments in the euro area will also be addressed as a separate issue.

In inclusive format, the Eurogroup will discuss the budgetary instrument for convergence and competitiveness.

The Economic and Financial Affairs Council is to discuss the progress achieved in the implementation of the anti-money laundering (AML) action plan adopted in December 2018. It will also consider the future strategic priorities in the area. The Commission will present its package of reports on AML published in July 2019. In order to eliminate the bottlenecks identified in the reports, the correct transposition and implementation of the existing legal framework and the fourth and fifth anti-money laundering directives are required, as well as the adoption of several bills in handling.

The ministers will also receive a presentation by the European Court of Auditors of its annual report on the implementation of the EU budget for 2018, and the chair of the Wise Persons' Group on the European financial architecture for development will present its report on how to maximize added value.