ATHENS — Finance Minister Christos Staikouras visited Luxembourg on Wednesday to attend the Eurogroup and Ecofin meetings, the annual meetings of the Board of Governors of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) and the European Investment Bank (EIB), as well as to make contacts with European officials.

In the afternoon, Staikouras will meet with the ESM Managing Director Klaus Regling and high-ranking executives at the ESM headquarters. A visit to the headquarters of the European Investment Bank will follow, where he will meet with EIB President Werner Hoyer and senior officials of the Bank.

On Thursday, Staikouras will take part in the annual meeting of the ESM Board of Directors, during which the annual report of the organisation for the financial year 2020 will be approved. He will also participate in the Eurogroup meeting where eurozone finance ministers will discuss, among others, the 10th Enhanced Surveillance Report successfully concluded two weeks ago.

The Eurogroup will also focus on the completion of the banking union and on the preparation of the forthcoming eurozone summit.

On Friday, the Greek finance minister will attend the annual meeting of the EIB Board of Governors, as well as the Ecofin Council, which, according to the agenda, will discuss the economic recovery in Europe – with emphasis on the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Facility, VAT issues and the course of the banking union. In addition, EU finance ministers will exchange views on financial services and fiscal sustainability and focus on the European Semester 2021.