Brussels, 29/12/2000 (Agence Europe) - As Sweden is not part of the single currency area, the Eurogroup presidency (ministerial body of the countries that are part of the euro area) will be assumed from 1 January 2001 by Belgium, that is, the Eurogroup country that is to preside the EU Council at the end of the Swedish Presidency. It will therefore be Belgian Finance Minister, Didier Reynders, who will be president of the Eurogroup for the whole of the year. Mr Reynders will also represent the Eurogroup at the G7 and IMF summits.
The Belgian Minister expressed his intention to give an increasingly formal nature to this body and to strengthen links between Eurogroup and the European Central Bank (ECB). He will attend regular meetings at the ECB and will regularly invite the ECB president, Wim Duisenberg, to take part in the Eurogroup meetings (which are generally prior to the Ecofin Council sessions). The year 2001 is particularly important for the euro, as everything must be set in place for when notes and coins in euros come onto the market early 2002.