Portugal will be under analysis on Centeno’s first test in the Eurogroup
In Mário Centeno's first test as the Eurogroup president - the meeting scheduled for January 22 -, Portugal will be under analysis. Mourinho Félix will be representing the country.
The new president of the Eurogroup, Mário Centeno, will have his first time conducting a meeting for the Euro Area Finance ministers next Monday, in Brussels, in a meeting whose agenda includes an analysis of the Portuguese situation.
About one week after taking office as the successor of Jeroen Dijsselbloem, Mário Centeno will head his first Eurogroup meeting this Monday. The main subject of the meeting will be Greece’s bailout plan, but also the conclusions on the most recent post-programme monitoring mission to Portugal, the seventh, performed between November 28 and December 6 of 2017.
Since the Portuguese Finance minister Mário Centeno will be chairing the meeting, Portugal will be represented by the Finance State secretary Ricardo Mourinho Félix in the Eurogroup meetings.
On the conclusion of the seventh post-programme mission, the European Commission and the European Central Bank believe Portugal’s economic recovery “regained momentum”, but warn against the fact that the structural adjustment efforts “point to a significant deviation” from the European requirements. EC and ECB also believe it is important to “reign in the growth in public expense” and “use the gains from a reduction in expenses with interests, to accelerate the reduction of public debt”.
The post-programme missions in Portugal will continue until at least 75% of the value of the loans granted under the bailout programme (around 78 billion euros between 2011 and 2014) are reimbursed.
The Finance minister of the Euro area will also look into the current bailout plan to Greece, the only country that is currently under the programme, and it should commend the progress made in the third assessment of the adjustment and the “good cooperation” currently witnessed between the European institutions and the Greek authorities.
For this Eurogroup, which signals the premier of president Centeno, a new discussion should take place about the next steps towards the deepening of the Monetary and Economic Union.
