Finance ministers on the future of economic governance, recovery and energy price trends

Met dank overgenomen van Sloveens voorzitterschap Europese Unie 2e helft 2021 i, gepubliceerd op vrijdag 5 november 2021.

Minister of Finance Andrej Šircelj will chair the meeting of the Economic and Financial Affairs Council in Brussels on Tuesday, 9 November.

The ministers will begin the meeting with a discussion on the package of legislative proposals for the implementation of international banking standards (Basel III) and continue with a debate on the future of economic governance. On 19 October, the European Commission relaunched the process of discussing the economic governance framework and thus the implementation of fiscal rules, which had been temporarily adjusted due to the crisis. An exchange of views is planned on the basis of the European Commission communication. The ministers will also exchange views on recovery in Europe and funding for the Next Generation EU instrument and discuss the trends of energy product prices and their consequences.

The November session envisages the adoption of conclusions on the future of the European Semester focusing on the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Facility, and the adoption of conclusions on EU Statistics.

The Presidency and the European Commission will present a report on the meeting of G20 finance ministers and central bank governors and the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund held in October. Ministers will also listen to the presentation of the European Court of Auditors annual report on the implementation of the EU budget for the 2020 financial year.

The session will be preceded by the annual ministerial dialogue with representatives of the European Free Trade Association member states. The ministers will exchange opinions on the opportunities and challenges brought by the post-pandemic economic recovery.

On Monday, November 8, a day before the meeting of the Council for Economic and Financial Affairs, Minister Šircelj will chair the macroeconomic dialogue. In the macroeconomic dialogue, social partners will exchange views on the economic outlook with the current presidency, the following two presidencies, the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the Eurogroup President. A specific topic to be addressed in this dialogue is the digital transformation in the light of recovery and the impact of digitalisation on the labour market.