Ireland's Department of Finance sets out Simon Harris’s Eurogroup and ECOFIN agenda focused on the Savings and Investment Union and the digital euro

Ireland's Department of Finance published an outline of Tánaiste and Minister for Finance Simon Harris’s two-day visit to Brussels for his first Eurogroup and Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) meetings, where ministers will cover euro area fiscal surveillance, EU financial services policy initiatives and support for Ukraine. The programme includes bilateral meetings with European Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis and European Investment Bank President Nadia Calviño on priorities in Ireland’s National Development Plan, including large-scale strategic infrastructure projects. The Eurogroup agenda includes an International Monetary Fund review of euro area policies, discussion of euro area member states’ draft budgetary plans and an election for a new Eurogroup President. Harris will also attend the European Stability Mechanism Board of Governors, with agenda items including the end of Latvia’s transition period after joining the ESM, Bulgaria’s accession to the ESM and the designation of a new Chairperson. At ECOFIN, ministers will discuss the European Commission’s Market Infrastructure and Efficient Supervision package and its pensions recommendation as part of the Savings and Investment Union, alongside a policy discussion on the Single Currency Package including the digital euro. ECOFIN will also address customs files, including work towards political agreement on a temporary solution enabling earlier implementation of the elimination of the customs duty relief threshold, and consider European Semester items and targeted amendments to Recovery and Resilience Plans for ten member states, as well as the European Court of Auditors’ annual report on the EU budget for 2024.