Finance Minister Constantinos Petrides is in Luxembourg to take part in the Eurogroup and Ecofin meetings which will be held on Monday and Tuesday.

Ministers will discuss economic developments resulting from the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Monitoring and assessing these fast-moving developments is crucial for Eurogroup’s coordination of economic policies and promotion of the conditions for stronger economic growth.

In preparation for the upcoming spring meetings of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund, ministers will look into the global economic developments, risks and policy challenges, and will take stock of exchange rate developments over the past months.

Based on input from the ECB and the Commission, ministers will discuss privacy considerations related to a digital euro and how they relate to other policy objectives, such as preventing money laundering, illicit financing and tax evasion.

Ministers will also discuss housing market developments, focused on housing affordability issues.

At the Ecofin meeting, ministers will have a policy debate on the proposal to transpose into EU law the global agreement reached at OECD level according to which large multinational corporations may not pay less than 15 per cent taxes anywhere in the world. They will aim to reach a Council position on the proposal.

Economy and finance ministers will discuss the economic and financial consequences of sanctions imposed on Russia after its military aggression against Ukraine.