Retired Austrian diplomat Thomas Wieser, who chaired the euro group responsible for preparing the Eurogroup's work, will direct the work of the future group of eminent people who will assess the European financial architecture for development policy.
Mr Wieser has been given a mandate to form a group of six to eight experts in consultation with the Member States, as confirmed on Wednesday 6 February by the Romanian Presidency of the Council of the European Union, following the meeting of the Member States' ambassadors to the EU (Coreper).
This group, whose creation will be approved by the Council of the European Union, will have six months to analyse and make recommendations on how to "maximise the value added" of this financial architecture, which includes the EIB, the EBRD, the financial instruments managed by the Commission and the national development agencies, according to a briefing note from the Romanian Presidency of the Council of the European Union, dated 1 February.
The creation of this group is a Franco-German initiative included in the Franco-German Meseberg Declaration of June 2018. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)