The Eurozone finance ministers will take note of progress made by the Greek authorities in the implementation of the priority actions in the framework of the finalisation of the third monitoring mission of the third bailout plan.
This meeting will come one month after the one that gave rise to a political agreement concerning the conclusion of this third monitoring mission, on 22 January (see EUROPE 11944). There are just a few priority actions of a technical nature still to be implemented, such as the privatisation of Hellenikon airport and the liberalisation of the gas market.
In order for the tranche of aid of €5.7 billion, as defined at the meeting of 22 January, to be paid, the institutional representatives (European Commission, European Central Bank and European Stability Mechanism) still need to give their blessing. It will, however, not necessarily be forthcoming on Monday, which would allow the Eurogroup meeting to note the disbursement of this new tranche, to be used to cover the servicing of the debt, pay off arrears and build up a liquidity buffer ahead of Athens’ return to the markets. Readers may recall that the Greek authorities carried out a conclusive test on Thursday 8 February for their return to the seven-year bond markets (see EUROPE 11957).
The Eurozone finance ministers will also discuss post-programme measures concerning the debt, with the work at technical level on the French proposal to index the repayment level of the Greek debt to economic growth increases (‘growth-adjustment mechanism’) continuing.
Stock-take on the Irish monitoring programme. The Eurozone finance ministers will also discuss the work of the eighth Irish post-programme monitoring mission, which took place between 28 November and 1 December of last year. Readers may recall that the financial assistance programme to Ireland concluded in December 2013 (see EUROPE 10984) and until 75% of the loans have been paid to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and European Stability Mechanism (ESM), Ireland will remain under a monitoring programme.
ECB vice-presidency. The attendees of the Eurogroup meeting will, moreover, prepare for the election of the new vice-president of the European Central Bank (see other article).
First discussions on the future of the European Stability Mechanism. The Eurogroup meeting will also provide attendees with the opportunity to hold an exchange for the first time in this format on the future of the European Stability Mechanism and its role.
Readers may recall that in its package of 6 December of last year on the deepening of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), the European Commission proposed to convert the inter-governmental organisation into a European Monetary Fund (EMF), which would take the form of a body of the European Union (see EUROPE 11920). Differences of opinion between the EU finance ministers were already being expressed at the last meeting of the Council in ‘Ecofin’ formation, on 23 January of this year (see EUROPE 11945).
This will simply be an initial debate, at which each minister will be able to outline the vision defended by his or her state. This exchange will also cover the other subjects related to the deepening of EMU.
Speeding up the work to complete Banking Union. Under ‘any other business’, the completion of Banking Union is an essential issue. With proposals on the table since June 2016 (see EUROPE 11573), exchanges between member states have so far revealed deep divides between those in favour of reducing the banking risks and those wishing to go further towards sharing them. These differences in interpretation also re-emerged at the meeting of the ‘Ecofin’ Council of 23 January.
Those attending the Eurogroup meeting in inclusive format for this debate (all member states but the UK) will therefore have to discuss the definition of indicators concerning the reduction of risks and come up with more tangible proposals in order to reach a compromise. They will have in sight the Eurozone summits of March and June of this year (see EUROPE 11927). (Original version in French by Lucas Tripoteau with Marion Fontana)