By KUNA,
Brussels : The European Union Council of Economic and Financial Affairs (ECOFIN) meets here Tuesday to discus, mainly, the financial crisis and examine the impact of the financial crisis on the real economy in Europe.
On Monday, the European Commission published its autumn forecasts which said economic growth in the 27-member EU is expected to be 1.4 percent in 2008, half what it was in 2007, and drop even more sharply in 2009 to 0.2 percent.
It said that the EU economies are strongly affected by the financial crisis.
ECOFIN will discuss European proposals for reforming the international financial system, which will be on the agenda of the global summit on the financial crisis to be held in Washington on November 15.
EU leaders who will hold an extraordinary summit in Brussels on Friday are also expected to discuss the proposals.
The EU Finance Ministers will have lunch today with representatives of three sovereign wealth funds – Abu Dhabi, Norway, and Qatar – and will discuss the application of IMF standards to this type of fund.
Moreover, ECOFIN will discuss a proposal for reduced VAT rates and will seek to reach agreement on measures to tackle VAT fraud.
Meanwhile, Ministers for Finance of the Eurozone met here late Monday night and discussed the economic situation.
The Eurozone is made up of fifteen EU member states which use the common currency, the Euro.
Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the Eurogroup, told a press conference late Monday night that in the euro area, a general revival package, a sort of a traditional programme to stimulate the short-term economy, was not needed.
“Rules have already been set out within the Eurogroup and it is simply a question of adopting temporary and consistent measures designed to help us in the short-term,” he said.
Replying to a question on the convening of a Eurogroup meeting at heads of state and government level, Juncker said French President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose country holds the current EU Presidency, on a number of occasions was arguing in favour of a high level meeting of the Eurogroup.
“Most (EU) Member States did not agree with that idea. In my view, I do not think it is a good idea to institutionalise a meeting at that high level,” added Juncker who is also the prime minister of Luxembourg.