EU finance ministers endorse Malta’s chairmanship of EIB board of governors

EU Finance Ministers, in their capacity as Governors of the European Investment Bank (EIB), endorsed Malta's chairmanship of the EIB Board of Governors for the next 12 months during the annual EIB Governors' meeting on Tuesday 14 May 2013.

Malta's Finance Minister will be succeeding outgoing Hungarian Minister Mihály Varga.

The Annual Meeting was held in Brussels during an intensive two-day series of meetings for European Finance Ministers. The ministers attended the Eurogroup and ECOFIN.

The main item on the agenda of both meetings was the second stage of the Banking Union which includes establishing a framework for bank recovery and resolution.

"This is the most sensitive aspect of the Banking Union where, in case of need, one has to decide where the line has to be drawn between a bail-in which has to be borne by the bank's shareholders and other creditors and, the bail-out which is carried by the taxpayer," Scicluna said following the meetings.

During Tuesday's ECOFIN meeting, Finance Ministers also reached a political agreement to increase the 2013 budget by €7.3 billion which will be focused on reinforcing funds that enhance Europe's growth across all regions through policies such as Cohesion Policy, investment, education, promoting research and innovation and tackling the problem of unemployment.

Scicluna also held a consultative bilateral meeting with the European Commissioner for Competition, Joaquin Almunia. During this meeting, Scicluna and Almunia discussed developments across several economic sectors including the financial sector.

Scicluna was accompanied by Malta's Permanent Representative to the European Union, Ambassador Marlene Bonnici, and the Permanent Secretary within the Finance Ministry Alfred Camilleri.