§ Ms LawrenceTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the Council meeting of the Economic and Finance Ministers of the European Union held on 21 April. [40238]
§ Mr. Gordon BrownI chaired the Economic and Finance council —Ecofin—of the European Union in Brussels on 21 April. The Economic Secretary represented the UK.
The Council began by briefly considering how it should handle the Commission's Recommendations on practical aspects of the introduction of the euro. It now seems likely that the Council will note these at some point over the EMU weekend.
The Council went on to discuss a Commission preliminary paper on pan-European risk capital markets, as part of its follow-up to the Luxembourg Jobs Summit. The paper's approach was broadly welcomed, and Member States were willing to exchange best practice, and to consider what further action might be necessary to promote risk capital, whilst emphasising the need to respect subsidiarity. The Commission will report back with further work.
Linked to this, as part of Ecofin's contribution to the employment initiative, was the Council's political agreement on the package of financial assistance measures for innovative and job-creating SMEs. These two items 74W together are confirmation of the Presidency's achievement in swiftly realising two important mandates from the Jobs Summit, and progressing the economic reform agenda.
The Council agreed in principle to balance of payments support for Bosnia and Albania, subject to the details of the grant element, budget constraints, and other lending criteria.