“We congratulate EIB President Hoyer and his team for good results obtained during 2018 but especially in addressing capital replacement needs, together with governance reforms and gender balance.  With regards to the future, climate change and sustainable finance will of course feature prominently in terms of priorities”. This was stated by the Minister for Finance Edward Scicluna during the annual EIB Board of Governors meeting held in Luxembourg, prior to the ECOFIN meeting.
The Minister added, “The EIB is an EU bank, but at the same time, it cannot ignore its neighbours, the MENA region and Africa as a whole where most of the irregular migration originates. So, one should also take note of developments, arising from the Marseille Summit to be held this month and the ongoing Malta Mini-Summit (Med7) which are looking at the needs of the Mediterranean and the Southern part of Europe.”
The Finance Minister participated in the Eurogroup and ECOFIN meetings which were held in Luxembourg 13th and 14th June 2019. The Eurogroup meeting focused on the preparations for the Euro Summit which will be held next week.

During the summit, European Leaders are expected to discuss the deepening of the Economic Monetary Union (EMU). Ministers debated the future of the Banking Union, the reform of the European Stability Mechanism and the Budgetary Instrument for Convergence and Competitiveness.

During an inclusive Eurogroup Meeting which lasted in the early hours of Friday the Ministers agreed to a general set of principles on the Budgetary Instrument for Convergence and Competitiveness, amendments to the ESM Treaty and on the need for further work on the Banking Union.
Minister Scicluna told journalists after the meeting that he is satisfied that a difficult compromise which has been achieved, while the ESM whom all Finance Ministers respected will be given extra tasks to improve the resilience of the EMU.

Finance Minister Scicluna was accompanied by his Permanent Secretary Alfred Camilleri.