Skip to main content
Normal View

Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 9 Mar 1999

Vol. 501 No. 6

Written Answers. - EU Meetings.

Ruairí Quinn

Question:

208 Mr. Quinn asked the Minister for Finance the name of the European Council of Ministers, if any, relevant to his Department; the number of council meetings he has attended since taking office; the number of meetings attended by an official or permanent representative in his absence; the number of meetings he has had with his equivalent European Ministers outside the Council of Ministers format since taking office; if officials from his Department meet regularly with Commission or other national officials; if so, the regularity with which they meet; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6727/99]

The Councils relevant to my Department are (i) the Economic and Finance Ministers' Council, ECOFIN and (ii) the Budget Council. There have been 22 meetings of ECOFIN since I took office on 26 June 1997 and I have attended all of these meetings. Ministers of State, Deputy Cullen and Deputy Byrne, have on my behalf, attended four meetings of the EU Budget Council since that date.

Meetings of the EURO-11 group normally precede the meetings of the ECOFIN Council and I have attended all seven meetings of the Euro-11 group since its inception on 4 June 1998. The EURO-11 group is comprised of the member states participating in the euro. Its meetings are informal and discussions cover issues connected with shared specific responsibilities for the single currency.

Ministers for Finance also attend European Council meetings of Heads of State or Government as occasion demands. I have attended three of the European Councils, in Luxembourg, Cardiff and Vienna held since I have taken office.

As the Deputy will be aware, meetings with Ministers of Finance from all other member states occur regularly on the margins of Council meetings, by arrangement or otherwise. I also meet Ministers of Finance outside the ECOFIN format as the occasion demands, for example, in the pre-Presidency visits which are normally undertaken by incoming Presidencies. The last such meeting was with Minister Lafontaine of Germany. Of course, I also meet regularly with the President and members of the European Commission on matters of policy relevant to my Department.
Officials of my Department are in regular contact with officials from the Commission and other member states in a variety of different contexts. These range from formal, regular, high level statutory committees such as the economic and financial committee – meeting monthly, the taxation policy group – which meets approximately three times a year, the code of conduct group on business taxation – currently meeting about every three weeks – and other high levelad hoc groupings, to the various Council and Commission working groups established to process EU legislation on other matters, for example, financial legislation and Structural Fund regulations.
Bilateral meetings between officials of my Department and their counterparts in other member states, in the Commission and in other institutions of the Community also occur on a regular basis. Such meetings are an integral part of the day-to-day work of my Department across a wide range of its activities.
Top
Share