[Macroeconomic developments]
First, also couple of points from the Commission side on the regular Eurogroup agenda.
Would like to thank the IMF staff for their assessment of economic developments and policy challenges in the euro area.
We broadly share the IMF's assessment of the near-term prospects for growth and inflation in the euro area.
On fiscal policy, we agree with the important emphasis of the IMF on rebuilding fiscal buffers while continuing to support investment.
We are confident that the new fiscal framework will be effective in ensuring that adjustment does not come at the cost of reducing necessary investments.
The medium-term plans prepared by Member States which we assessed earlier this month are an important step in this direction.
The euro area recommendation, which we will present later this month, and sorry our assessment of Medium term Plans was actually last month it was November. The euro area recommendation will address some of the medium-term challenges identified also by IMF in their report, including for instance, the need to deepen the single market, stimulate investment in research and development, promoting upskilling and reskilling, and improving business environment.
[Assessment of member states' draft budgetary plans]
Also, I presented the main elements of the Commission's Opinions of 2025 Draft Budgetary Plans (DBPs) of euro area member states budget which was also adopted as part of European Semester Autumn Package.
Eight euro area Member States are considered to be in line with fiscal recommendations. These are Greece, Cyprus, Latvia, Slovenia, Slovakia, Italy, Croatia and France.
Seven Member States - Estonia, Germany, Finland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, and Portugal - are assessed to be not fully in line.
One Member State, Lithuania, is at risk of not being in line.
And one Member State – the Netherlands - is assessed to be not in line with the recommendation.
We invite these Member States to take the necessary steps to ensure that their budgets are in line with the new EU fiscal framework.
The focus should be now on the credible implementation of ambitious policies included in Member States medium-term plans.
Overall, we project euro area fiscal stance for the next year to be slightly contractionary– at around ¼% of GDP.
And, this appears appropriate in the current macroeconomic context.
At the same time, we foresee a further expansion in public investment, both nationally financed as well as linked with RRF and other EU funds.
This shows that the new fiscal framework is effective on its outset, in ensuring that fiscal consolidation does not come at the cost of reducing public investments.
[International dialogue with UK]
Finally few words on earlier Eurogroup in inclusive format where we were welcoming Rachel Reeves, the United Kingdom's Chancellor of the Exchequer, for exchange of views.
Our discussions focused on competitiveness of our economy's, international economic developments, shared challenges, and the EU and UK's commitment to support Ukraine.
We see that the global geopolitical outlook remains subject to much risk and uncertainty.
And it underlines the importance of EU to continue cooperating closely with like-minded partners.
We commend the UK for its continued strong political, military and financial support for Ukraine.
Particularly I would highlight its role and contribution to G7 Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration (ERA) initiative.
The EU will work with the UK, and other G7 partners, to ensure that the G7 ERA loans are implemented by all partners to help fulfil Ukraine's financing needs for next year.
And all in all, we remain committed to strengthening the relationships between EU and United Kingdom, especially in current geopolitical context.
