The president of the Eurogroup, Paschal Donohoe, detailed the work of the euro area finance ministers in the first half of 2022 in a letter sent on Tuesday 21 June to the euro area leaders who will meet on Friday 24 June in Brussels.
Mr Donohoe points to the “very high uncertainty” surrounding the macroeconomic situation, with the Russian invasion of Ukraine causing a slowdown in growth in the 19 euro area members combined with a surge in inflation through higher energy prices.
Not mentioning the risk of fragmentation within the euro area (see EUROPE 12975/16), he said that the Eurogroup would update its budgetary strategy “next month”, in view of the preparation of national draft budget plans for 2023, a year in which the quantitative targets of the Stability and Growth Pact will still not be applied.
On the Banking Union, Mr Donohoe admits that the Eurogroup has not fulfilled the mandate given to it by the Euro Summit at the end of 2020 to reach a work programme to complete this project (see EUROPE 12621/3). The best way forward would be to focus on the area where progress is most likely to be made, namely “strengthening the crisis management framework” arising from a bank failure, he said (see EUROPE 12974/10).
And to welcome the fact that Croatia will join the euro area at the beginning of 2023.
See Mr Donohoe’s letter: https://aeur.eu/f/288 (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)