Main / Press releases and speeches / Press releases / Mr Heinäluoma to host an informal Ecofin meeting in Helsinki
The EU Ministers of Finance are gathering in Helsinki on the 8-9 September for an informal meeting of the Ecofin Council. The meeting will be hosted by Mr Eero Heinäluoma, Minister of Finance, and the participants will include not only the relevant Ministers but also the President of the European Central Bank, the Governors of national central banks and Commission representatives. The meeting will take place at Helsinki Fair Centre.
The informal Ecofin meeting will open with a working lunch of the Ministers, at which they will discuss the economical and financial aspects of the energy policy, such as the impacts of the oil price development and investments in the energy sector. Before the informal Ecofin meeting, the Euro Group will meet on the morning of Friday, the 8th of September.
In the seminar section of the informal Ecofin meeting, the debate started during the EU presidencies of the United Kingdom and Austria on global competition, innovations and productivity will continue. The aim is to find means for Europe to respond to the challenges of the intensifying global competition and to strengthen the growth potential of the economy faced with increasing pressures due to the ageing of the population. Attention must be focused on the prerequisites of innovation activities and making use of technology.
The Ministers and Governors especially intend to concentrate on the functioning of the financial market, and financial instruments that can support innovation activities and consequently reinforce the growth of productivity over longer term. The Chairman of the ERT (European Round Table of Industrialist), Mr Jorma Ollila, and the General Secretary of the ETUC (European Trade Union Confederation), Mr John Monks, will also take part in this debate. Other participants will include Commissioners Joaquín Almunia and Charlie McGreevy and the President of the European Central Bank, Mr Jean-Claude Trichet.
On Friday evening, the discussion will continue in a less formal setting at a dinner hosted by Minister Eero Heinäluoma and Mr Erkki Liikanen, Governor of the Bank of Finland. Before this, the participants of the meeting will have the opportunity of taking part in the award ceremony of the Millennium technology prize at the Fair Centre.
The informal Ecofin meeting will continue on Saturday 9 September with a breakfast meeting, at which the Ministers will discuss the excessive deficit procedure for Germany. The agenda for the second day of the meeting will also contain the financial situation and stability of the financial market, as well as the lessons and conclusions of the financial crisis exercise of spring 2006. The objective of this exercise was to see how co-operation between the authorities could be further improved domestically and cross the borders. Finally, the Ministers and Governors will prepare for the IMF meeting of Singapore.
More than 220 participants will be expected to the actual meetings, in addition to whom some one dozen spouses will arrive in Finland. A specific programme has been organised for them, hosted by Mrs Satu Siitonen-Heinäluoma. The spouses will e.g. be offered a sight-seeing tour of Helsinki and a visit to a Finnish school.
Some 800 representatives of the media have registered to participate at this meeting. They can look forward to such as an "astounding performance" at a soiree organised by the City of Helsinki, the Finnish Broadcasting Company Yle and Forum Virium on Friday night.
Press conferences of the informal Ecofin meeting (preliminary schedule):
For the media programme of the meeting, please see the Internet pages of the EU Presidency at www.eu2006.fi.
Press conferences: www.eu2006.fi/webcasts
Ministry of Finance P.O BOX 28 FIN-00023 GOVERNMENT Tel. +358 295 16001 E-mail: valtiovarainministerio@vm.fi
