Friday, September 15, 2023, 10:45
With the European economy moving forward at full speed, the agreement to reform fiscal rules is more important than ever. This was highlighted this Friday by the Commissioner for Economy, Paolo Gentiloni, upon his arrival at the informal meeting of the finance ministers of the European Union (Ecofin) in Santiago de Compostela. The Spanish presidency of the European Council hopes to make progress on this matter and “we have closed parts of the texts,” said the first vice president and Minister of Economic Affairs, Nadia Calviño. In that sense, the minister hopes to carry out “an exchange of views” with her counterparts, with whom she will not discuss her candidacy to preside over the European Investment Bank (EIB).
Calviño has been emphatic: «I am not going to address these issues here. There will, however, be an information point from the Belgian Minister of Finance on the candidates to preside over the EIB,” a position to which the Spanish Minister and the Competition Commissioner, Margrethe Vestager, aspire. The Belgian Finance Minister, Vincent van Peteghem, informed upon his arrival that the process is in the “consultation phase” in order to see who can obtain the necessary support (the favorable vote of 18 Member States and the 68% of the EIB shares, where the opinion of Germany, France and Italy has greater weight). «We are looking to see if the requirements are met to achieve a consensus candidate, but we are not at that point yet. “We should not force the process.”
The Portuguese minister has assured that he supports Calviño’s candidacy and the French Finance Minister, Bruno Le Maire, has highlighted that he “firmly” believes that the Spanish candidate “has all the necessary skills” for the position. Despite everything, Le Maire has indicated that “there must be discussion among all ministers before making a final decision.”
The meeting this Friday and Saturday in Santiago de Compostela “is historic”, since it brings together European ministers with their counterparts from Latin America and the Caribbean; and in which the main multilateral financial institutions present in the region will also be present. “We will discuss how to launch the Global Gateway initiative with concrete projects, with which we want to invest 45 billion euros in the region,” Calviño stressed.
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