Thomas P. Broughan
Question:48 Mr. Broughan asked the Minister for Finance if he will make a statement on the outcome of the meeting of EU Finance Ministers in Oviedo on the weekend of 13-14 April 2002. [12403/02]
Written Answers. - Official Engagements.
The informal meeting of the ECOFIN Council took place between 12 and 14 April 2002 in Oviedo, Spain. As the Deputy is aware, informal meetings of the Council provide Ministers with an opportunity to engage in a general discussion on issues which will feature on the agenda of future formal Councils. It is not the practice for such meetings to have a formal agenda and there are no formal conclusions.
The informal ECOFIN was preceded by a meeting of the "enlarged" Eurogroup on Friday, 12 April, which consisted of the 12 eurozone countries plus the UK, Denmark and Sweden. This meeting discussed the economic situation and policy mix in the EU and agreed the speaking points of the Eurogroup Presidency for the Group of Seven Finance Ministers' meeting in Washington on 20 April.
On Saturday morning, ECOFIN Ministers were joined by the governors of the central banks to discuss the world economic situation and economic forecasts. The meeting also agreed the EU Presidency speech to the International Monetary and Financial Committee on 20 April and discussed the role of the IMF in sovereign debt restructuring and the question of EU representation in the IMF and Group of Seven. Policy issues relating to the financial collapse of Enron and supervision of financial institutions in the EU were also raised. Ministers agreed that best practices in corporate governance and auditing practices would be reviewed by the EU's high level group of company law experts.
Over lunch, Ministers reached agreement on the nomination of current Bank of Greece Governor, Lucas Papademos, to succeed Mr. Christian Noyer as vice-president of the European Central Bank. Lunch discussion also covered savings taxation negotiations and fuel tax derogations. After lunch, Ministers and central bank governors reconvened to discuss the issue of financial integration in the EU, as well as the new Basle II accord on capital adequacy of financial institutions and the implementation of the recommendations of the Brouwer reports on financial stability and financial crisis management. The meeting programme concluded with a seminar on the international role of the euro on Sunday, 14 April.