consilium.europa.eu — Greece – The Eurogroup will be briefed on the progress achieved in the talks between the institutions (the European Commission, the European Central Bank, the European Stability Mechanism and the International Monetary Fund) and the Greek authorities since the previous Eurogroup meeting in March.
These talks focus on the main outstanding issues that need to be solved in order to reach an agreement on the overall policy package that would allow the second review of the programme to be completed. These include labour market and energy sector reforms and the rebalancing of Greece’s public finances over the medium term, i.e. in 2018 and beyond.
Thematic discussion on growth and jobs: investment
The Eurogroup will continue its discussion on growth and jobs, this time focusing on the need to promote investment. The aim of the discussion is to agree on common principles that would be used to guide national policies conducive to investment.
It will be a continuation of the previous debate on the ease of doing business, held in February this year, and of a discussion on promoting investment that was held in July 2016.
Banking union: euro area aspects
Ministers will hear a presentation by the Chair of the European Central Bank’s (ECB) Supervisory Board, Danièle Nouy, on the ECB annual report on supervisory activities in 2016 and the priorities for 2017.
The Chair of the Single Resolution Board (SRB), Elke König, will also update the ministers on the SRB’s activities to date.
The SRB is part of the single resolution mechanism within the banking union. It is responsible, together with relevant national authorities and the ECB, for the resolution of banks that are considered failing or likely to fail.
Cyprus : post-programme surveillance
Ministers will be briefed by the institutions on the initial findings of the second post-programme surveillance mission that took place at the end of March.
Post-programme surveillance is carried out in countries that have recently closed a financial assistance programme. The aim of such surveillance is to assess whether there is any risk that the country may not be able to repay its loans received under the programme. The surveillance stops when the country has repaid about 75% of the loan.
