ECONOMY – FINANCE – BUSINESS /
Eurogroup
Finance ministers of euro area countries will take stock of the macroeconomic situation within the euro area on Friday 18 September in Dublin.
This discussion, in which Aurore Lalucq, Chair of the European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, will take part, will be the first opportunity for the Eurogroup to examine the health of the economy, in the light of the events of the summer, marked by a series of natural disasters, by the recent rise in energy prices linked to persistent tensions in the Middle East and by the recent decision of the ECB to increase its key interest rates (see EUROPE B1393514).
The macroeconomic situation remains marked by profound uncertainty and high “volatility”, notably on sovereign debt markets, which is weighing on activity, a European source said on Wednesday 16 September. According to the source, despite some signs of “fragility”, the euro area economy is proving “more resilient than expected” and the labour market remains robust.
As for the rise in long-term sovereign debt interest rates, this is mainly due to the situation “in the United States and Japan”, the source noted. “This does not mean that Europe is immune”, the source added, calling on euro area countries to avoid any budgetary “error”. According to the source, if the spread has widened between Germany and other countries, such as France, this is not due to speculation, but to the real fiscal situation of the countries concerned.
Productivity. The Eurogroup will also hold a discussion on productivity developments in the euro area, during which OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann will present a detailed assessment of the challenges in this area and make recommendations on how to address them.
Officially, the request by several euro area countries to tax excess profits of major energy groups at European level is not on the ministers’ agenda (see EUROPE 13924/2).
The impact of tensions in the Middle East on the profits of the companies concerned differs greatly from one country to another, so that “it is difficult to deal with it at EU level”, the European source explained. As for the creation of a European safe asset, promoted by Spain (see EUROPE 13905/27), follow-up work has been initiated at technical level, without a political process having been launched at this stage. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)