FinMin Teodorovici: New Commission must consider all member states' interests in taking major initiatives

The Minister of Public Finance, Eugen Teodorovici, said it is absolutely necessary the new European Commission to take into account the interests of all member states, and not only of some of them that are believed to be stronger and more influent. "I hope that the new team of the European Commission will truly approach every matter in the spirit of cohesion. Because it is absolutely necessary the new European Commission to take into account the interests of all member states, and not only of some of them that are believed to be stronger and more influent," said Teodorovici. The Romanian official participated on Friday, in Helsinki, in the extended Eurogroup meeting and in the first day of the informal reunion of the Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN), events organised by the Finish presidency of the Council of EU, as a press release of the Ministry of Public Finance informed. "The extended Eurogroup meeting focused on the budgetary instrument for convergence and competitiveness (BICC), respectively governance, modulation, financing, allocation methodology, as well as on the arrangement for the non-participant states. The Romanian minister underscored that, while our country supports the strengthening of the Economic and Monetary Union, it is important that the Reform Support Programme, where BICC only appears as a component, to be developed of a balanced manner and to be fair to both the states in the Eurozone and the ones outside the Eurozone," said the release. The items on the agenda of the first day of the informal reunion of the ECOFIN were: the hybrid threats and the resilience of the financial market infrastructure, the strengthening climate actions and relaunching the Capital Markets Union project. In terms of the hybrid threats and the resilience of the financial market infrastructure, discussions highlighted the importance of the financial sector in combating hybrid threats and stimulating political factors to continue to work in this respect. In what concerns the strengthening of climate action, discussions focused on the current stage of the actions taken in the climate change field, the role of finance ministers in this process and modalities for increasing the involvement of finance ministers in the climate change field. In this context, Teodorovici reminded about Romania's support for the involvement of the finance ministers in the climate change discussions, including through the participation of the Minister of Public Finance in the Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action, as an observer. At the same time, the Romanian official drew attention on the fact that the starting point of this discussion must be the admission of the fact that the greening process also implies costs and the capacity of our economies to bear such costs varies. Not last, the ministers and governors of the central banks discussed the priorities of the European Union in the Capital Markets Union for the next institutional cycle, seeking to identify and reach an agreement on the set of practical measures meant to encourage cross-border integration of the European capital markets, including measures that the member states could apply. On the same day, Friday, the Finance head had a meeting with the Vice President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Pierre Heilbronn. Discussions focused on this bank's projects in Romania and the future strategy of the EBRD for the next interval, as well as the national strategy for the development of the capital markets in Romania. AGERPRES (RO - editor: Oana Tilica; EN - editor: Cristina Zaharia)