Summing-Up Letter, Eurogroup, 9 July 2020
027139/EU XXVII.GP Eingelangt am 15/07/20 Eurogroup The President Brussels, 14 July 2020 ecfin.cef.cpe(2020)4210454 To the members of the Eurogroup Subject: videoconference of 9 July 2020 Dear colleagues, I would like to share with you the main content and course of our videoconference of 9 July, my last meeting as President of the Eurogroup. The Commission was represented by Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis and Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni. ECB President Christine Lagarde, ECB Executive Board Member Fabio Panetta and ESM Managing Director Klaus Regling also joined the videoconference. We welcomed Professor Niels Thygesen, President of the European Fiscal Board, for the item on the budgetary situation and fiscal stance of the euro area. 1. Presentation of the Commission's summer interim forecast The Commission presented its interim forecast, which confirms that the euro area entered a recession of unprecedented depth in the second quarter. Without the swift and determined policy responses we have implemented at the national and European levels, the situation would have been even worse. The policy response to the pandemic remains our prime focus. The forecast also confirms that the rebound has started, though the level of uncertainty and risk remains high. On an annual basis, the euro area economy is expected to shrink by almost 9% this year and, even if the rebound continues next year, as we hope, economic output will still be far below its previous trend. Moreover, we took good heed of the warnings from the Commission and the ECB that, even as activity rebounds, delayed impacts of the crisis on jobs and firms may l continue to materialise.
[Show full text]