We also reiterated the need to speed up our reduction of energy consumption, which is critical to stabilising energy prices and reducing our reliance on Russian fossil fuels.
We are all very much aware of the economic context to the October
Eurogroup meeting. Energy bills continue to rise. We know that citizens,
households and businesses continue to look to finance ministers and
governments regarding what we can do to help address the rising cost of
living. This indeed is one of our responsibilities as finance ministers
individually, but of course also collectively. And that is why the
Eurogroup meets to look at what our collective response can be with our
shared currency.
We were very grateful to welcome Mathias Cormann, the
Secretary-General of the OECD, for his presentation of the latest
insights on the economic outlook and our recommendations regarding how
we can tackle the rising price of energy.
Given the severity of this challenge, ministers have been taking
emergency measures that can be easily and rapidly deployed, many of
which have been broad based. These measures have provided timely
support, but we acknowledged in a Eurogroup statement the fact that they
weigh increasingly on national budgets and could have the risk of
delaying the energy transition. Therefore, we agreed today in our joint
statement to focus our support on measures that are cost efficient,
focus on income, can be temporary and, where possible, targeted on the
most vulnerable in our societies.
We also need to avoid policies that could add risks of inflationary
pressures, because our experience reminds us that going down this road
can make our societies poorer for longer. This guidance will need to be
reflected in national budgets for next year, and we will come back to
this issue shortly in the context of the Draft Budgetary Plans.
We also reiterated the need to speed up our reduction of energy
consumption, which is critical to stabilising energy prices and reducing
our reliance on Russian fossil fuels. Last week energy ministers agreed
important steps in that direction. It is also important to foster
investments in energy efficiency, the diversification of energy sources
and the development of low-carbon energy.
The second item we looked at was the implementation of euro area
priorities in the Recovery and Resilience Plans. We all acknowledged the
benefits of the Recovery Fund in implementing investments and reforms
to enhance the resilience of the euro area, boost economic growth and
promote convergence. This instrument is more relevant than ever.
We recognise that policy priorities have shifted. Given the
geopolitical and economic context, we need to act urgently on the energy
transition. That is why I strongly support the efforts of the Czech
Presidency to reach a swift agreement on the additional €20 billion
envelope to the recovery fund through REPowerEU, which we will be
discussing tomorrow morning at ECOFIN.
Third, we had a discussion on global issues and exchange rates ahead
of the meetings that many of us will be attending next week in
Washington. I should announce in this context that I have invited my
Eurogroup colleagues to an exchange of views with Treasury Secretary
Yellen on the 13th of October in Washington DC, which will build on the
success of the meeting that we had with Secretary Yellen in Brussels
last year. When war is raging on our continent it is essential to
further cement the strong relationship that we have with trusted and
vital partners such as the United States. Eurogroup looks forward to
this meeting.
The final issue were our discussions with regard to the digital euro.
We are continuing with our discussion on this vital project. We
received further updates from our institutions on this work, and we
discussed how we can build on the strengths of the private and public
sector with regard to a future ecosystem for the digital euro.
We acknowledged today that the success of this project will depend on
finding a balance on the various dimensions, such as convenience for
end users, cross-border usability and privacy arrangements. In this
regard, some harmonisation of rules of standards and interfaces could
help foster innovation and ensure a consistent user experience of the
digital euro across all of the euro area.
The president of the ECB also informed us that the Governing Council
endorsed a first set of design features for the digital euro. These
concern aspects such as privacy, use cases for a digital euro and the
possible offline functionality of this digital future, all of which have
been part of our regular discussions at the Eurogroup. We are going to
continue our exchanges as the investigation phase of the project
advances.
I want to conclude with an update on the appointment process for the
new managing director of the ESM. The term of Klaus Regling comes to an
end on 7 October, this Friday. We started the selection process for a
new managing director with four excellent candidates, but none of them
was able to meet the very high threshold of 80% of votes cast.
I updated colleagues today on my continuing efforts with regard to
this process and the need to ensure continuity at the helm of the ESM
and the steps that we need to put in place to ensure that this can
happen. Accordingly, I will be convening a Board of Governors meeting of
the ESM this Thursday, 6th October, to provide a further update to the
Board of Governors on where this process stands.
Last but not least, this will be the final time I will be sharing a
platform with Klaus Regling. I want to acknowledge his extraordinary
contribution, and we will have an opportunity to thank him a little bit
more later this evening.
Eurogroup
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