Thank you minister, good afternoon everyone. It is a pleasure to be back in Prague. Thank you for hosting us in this beautiful city. As the minister already outlined, today's discussions in Ecofin focused on two main topics: financial support for Ukraine and our economic policy response to the war in Ukraine and its economic implications. As regards financial support for Ukraine, it is excellent news that ministers have endorsed the next part of our exceptional macro-financial assistance programme and agreed to provide...

Ceiling for remuneration of government deposits to remain at deposit facility rate (DFR) or euro short-term rate (€STR), whichever is lower, until 30 April 2023 Measure aims to preserve effectiveness of monetary policy transmission and safeguard orderly market functioning To preserve the effectiveness of monetary policy transmission and safeguard orderly market functioning, the Governing Council of the European Central Bank (ECB) today decided to temporarily remove the 0% interest rate ceiling for remunerating government deposits. Instead, the ceiling will...

Today, the Commission is proposing to fully suspend the EU's Visa Facilitation Agreement with Russia. A country like Russia, waging a war of aggression, should not qualify for visa facilitations as long as it continues conducting its destructive foreign policy and military aggression towards Ukraine, demonstrating a complete disregard to the international rules-based order. The suspension is in response to increased risks and threats to the Union's security interests and the national security of the Member States as result...

'High debt and rising interest rates put a premium on improved governance to anchor fiscal policy in EU member states.' Given the central role of fiscal policy in addressing both recent crises and future challenges, the call to reform fiscal governance in Europe resonates like never before. Fiscal policy provides essential support when households and firms are hit by large shocks, such as the pandemic, or when monetary policy is constrained. However, that requires healthy public finances. High debt and rising...

Today, the European Union opens its new office in San Francisco, California, a global centre for digital technology and innovation. The office will reinforce the EU’s cooperation with the United States on digital diplomacy and strengthen the EU’s capacity to reach out to key public and private stakeholders, including policy makers, the business community, and civil society in the digital technology sector. The EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President of the European Commission, Josep Borrell, said: “The...

The recent plunge in crypto assets has left investors numbed by losses and surely in doubt. But the future of money is undoubtedly digital. The question is, what will it look like? In our latest issue of Finance & Development, some of the world’s leading experts try to answer this complex and politically charged question. Of course, digital money has been developing for some time already. New technologies hope to democratize finance and broaden access to financial products and...

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU’s securities markets regulator, today publishes the second Trends, Risks and Vulnerabilities (TRV) Report of 2022. The Russian war on Ukraine against a backdrop of already-increasing inflation has profoundly impacted the risk environment of EU financial markets, with overall risks to ESMA’s remit remaining at its highest level. In the first half of 2022 financial markets saw faltering recoveries, increasing volatility and likelihood of market corrections. Separately, crypto-markets saw large falls in...

Major economies sharply increased support for the production and consumption of coal, oil and natural gas, with many countries struggling to balance longstanding pledges to phase out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies with efforts to protect households from surging energy prices, according to analysis released today by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the International Energy Agency. New OECD and IEA data show that overall government support for fossil fuels in 51 countries worldwide almost doubled to 697.2 USD...