Informele bijeenkomst Ministers van Financiën in Parijs (en)

The EU economic and financial affairs ministers will hold an informal meeting on 18 December in Paris, in the presence of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

At the end of the French Presidency, this meeting will be an opportunity to assess the EU's economic and financial situation in a context of the deterioration of major economic indicators. Following the endorsement by the European Council of 11 and 12 December of the policylines identified by the Ecofin Council of 2 December with respect to the European recovery plan, the ministers will review the plan’s proper implementation.

Discussions will also address the work to be launched at European level following the G20 summit in Washington on 15 November, which defined the principles and main areas for action for reforming the global financial architecture. The coming months should provide the opportunity to determine the specific modalities for implementing these policylines on both a European and an international level, with Europe continuing to be a force of proposal in this area.

The first issue to be discussed are the resources of the IMF - an institution with a pivotal role in preserving financial stability - calling for a debate on the suitability of the Fund’s means for the missions with which it is entrusted and to meet Member States’ requirements. Recently, to support countries in difficulty, the Fund’s financial commitments have been the highest in its history. It is therefore crucial to ensure that this institution has a sufficiently sound financial basis to take action in times of crisis.

The ministers will also discuss setting up an international-level early warning system to detect risks and vulnerabilities in the financial sector, in order to prevent financial crises. Such a system could be structured around closer cooperation between the IMF and the Financial Stability Forum (FSF), and enable political reporting on the possible risks.

Lastly, the G20 reiterated the need to strengthen the fight against uncooperative and non-transparent jurisdictions that increase the risk of illicit financial activities. During this informal meeting, the ministers will discuss Community measures that the EU could take and then promote at an international level. These discussions should give fresh impetus to international efforts underway, and strengthen European action regarding these entities.