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[Luxembourg 2005 Presidency of the Council of the European Union]
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You are here : Home > News > Press Releases > April 2005 > Jean-Claude Juncker participates on behalf of the Council of the European Union in the meetings of the G7 Finance Ministers, as well as in the meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank in Washington on 15 and 16 April 2005
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Press Release
Jean-Claude Juncker participates on behalf of the Council of the European Union in the meetings of the G7 Finance Ministers, as well as in the meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank in Washington on 15 and 16 April 2005

Date of release : 17-04-2005

Policy area : Economic and Financial Affairs Economic and Financial Affairs


Jean-Claude Juncker, in his capacity as chairman of the Eurogroup and current President of the "Economic and Financial Affairs" committee, represented Europe’s position and interests during the meetings. He was supported by the President of the European Central Bank, Jean-Claude Trichet, and the European Commissioner in charge of Economic and Monetary Affairs, Joaquìn Almunia.

Jean-Claude Juncker presented to the Finance Ministers meeting at the G7, as well as to the IMF and the World Bank, the recent reforms of the Stability and Growth Pact which "would continue to play a vital role in the European budgetary framework."

"These reforms reflect the renewed consensus and increased appropriation by the member states of the Stability and Growth Pact", said the President Juncker. By placing more emphasis on economic development, and by strengthening "the objective of sustainable public finances", the new pact "aims to improve the economic intelligence of its application."

The Prime Minister then went on to outline the effects of the mid-term review of the  Lisbon Strategy which indicate that Europe remains firmly committed to structural reforms, namely in view of boosting growth and employment "without falling into the trap of unchecked and unscrupulous liberalisation and of abandoning the European social model."

As for the global economic situation, Jean-Claude Juncker renewed his call in favour of "greater flexibility of Asian currencies" which he considers "absolutely necessary" so that the euro’s appreciation against the US dollar, and as a rebound against Asian currencies linked to the American currency, may be contained.

The G7 Finance Ministers also expressed concern on macroeconomic imbalances, especially due to the historically low level of American savings which attained its lowest level since the 1930s, as well as the American budgetary deficit which reached 5.7% of GDP in 2004.

In his speech to the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, the Prime Minister outlined the mid- and long-term strategies designed to strengthen international macroeconomic and financial stability. In this context, Jean-Claude Juncker confirmed that the European Union would give its full support to IMF initiatives to carry out debt sustainability analyses geared to improving vulnerability analyses and monitoring efforts in countries benefiting from IMF programmes.

Jean-Claude Juncker also pointed out that other IMF priorities would be approved by the European Union, namely in areas of crisis resolution strategies, or the role of the IMF in low revenue countries, especially in strengthening the political institutions in these countries.

In conclusion, the President of the European Council renewed the European Union’s commitment to investing more in development cooperation. Although the EU should pass its target set in 2000 for the Millennium Development Goals (0.39% of GDP for development aid) by 2006, and that several European countries have recently decided to increase their contributions to international development funds (which brings the EU share to 55% of all contributions), the EU is willing to develop new financial instruments for development cooperation via fiscal or non-fiscal means in relation to air transport. The European Union will discuss this initiative during the  informal meeting of the Finance Ministers in Luxembourg on 13 and 14 May 2005.




This page was last modified on : 18-04-2005

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