ATHENS — Finance Minister Christos Staikouras is visiting Lisbon, Portugal, on Thursday in order to participate in meetings of the Eurogroup and Ecofin Council on Friday and Saturday, respectively.

These will be the first in-person meetings of these European institutions since September 2020, following the imposition of European-wide restrictive measures to address the pandemic.

On Friday, Staikouras will take part in the Eurogroup meeting, where, among other things, euro-area ministers will discuss current developments and the prospects of the eurozone on a fiscal and macroeconomic level, based on the European Commission's spring forecasts.

In addition, according to the agenda of the meeting, the possible long-term challenges and effects of the health crisis on the European economy will be examined and ways to deal with them will be sought.

Finally, the finance ministers will be informed by the competent institutions about the operation of the joint supervisory and consolidation mechanisms within the banking union.

On Saturday, the Greek minister will participate in the Ecofin meeting.