The Lithuanian Finance Minister and chairperson of the meeting Rimantas Šadžius stated: “Today’s discussions focused on the need for Europe to provide a progressive approach for achieving economic recovery. To reach that goal pursuing investment is key. We discussed the implementation of the European Fund for Strategic Investment and focused on how to best use the Fund in order to achieve the greatest added value for Europe. Our discussion also touched upon the situation in Greece. We have to support a constructive dialogue with the Greek officials, at the center of which we aim to reconcile several core principles, amongst others the respect for the result of the elections, the respect for engagements and the respect for the unity and cohesion of the Eurozone”.
Rimantas Šadžius added: “We also discussed the state of play of the Financial Transaction Tax, we are all supportive of the efforts undertaken by the eleven Member States that have agreed to implement the tax and will continue monitoring the development of this ambitious project”.
The Ministers also had the opportunity to discuss the recent developments on the negotiations regarding the implementation of the Financial Transaction Tax. The PES has been campaigning for the implementation of the Financial Transaction Tax since 2010. To learn more about our action click here.
The meeting was also attended by French Finance Minister Michel Sapin, Italian Finance Minister Pier Carlo Padoan, Slovakian Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Peter Kazimir, Maltese Finance Minister Edward Scicluna, Swedish Finance Minister Magdalena Andersson, Swedish State Secretary at the Ministry of Finance Karolina Ekholm, Vice Chairman of the SPD in the Bundestag Carsten Schneider, Vice-President of S&D Group of the European Parliament Maria João Rodrigues, Chair of the ECON Committee in the European Parliament Roberto Gualtieri, Member of the European Parliament Udo Bullman, and Deputy Secretary General of the PES Yonnec Polet.
