(L-R) Gilles Roth, Luxembourg's Minister of Finance; Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the IMF; Credit: MFIN

On Thursday 20 and Friday 21 June 2024, Luxembourg hosted the meetings of the Eurogroup and the Economic and Financial Affairs council (ECOFIN).

Among those in attendance at the European Convention Center Luxembourg (ECCL) was Luxembourg's Minister of Finance, Gilles Roth.

As reported by Luxembourg's Ministry of Finance, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) presented the main findings of its regular Article IV review of euro area policies at the Eurogroup meeting. The ministers also took stock of the role of the euro on an international scale, before assessing the role of industrial policy in terms of competitiveness, drawing in particular on the analysis of the European Commission and of the IMF.

With the Ukrainian Minister of Finance, Sergii Marchenko, joining by videoconference, the ministers continued their discussions on the economic and financial consequences of Russia's aggression against Ukraine within the ECOFIN council. The council also discussed the VAT in the Digital Age (ViDA) package and the state of play of the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF). To close the meeting, the Commission presented the European Semester Spring Package 2024.

On the sidelines of these meetings, Minister Roth participated in the annual meetings of the governing councils of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) and the European Investment Bank (EIB). The minister also met his Slovak and Portuguese counterparts, Ladislav Kamenický and Joaquim Miranda Sarmento, respectively, as well as the Managing Director of the IMF, Kristalina Georgieva.