Eurogroup expected to reach political agreement on MoU for Cyprus

EU Finance Minister, meeting in Dublin today, are expected to reach a political agreement on a Memorandum of Understanding with Cyprus.

However, the final decision is anticipated at the end of the month and funds are expected to flow in the first two weeks in May, according to a Eurozone official.

The Memorandum is already available but not final, the official noted, and explained that once the political decision is taken, the ratification process will begin at parliaments of Eurozone members that need to ratify the agreement. Ratification is set to conclude in April, to allow the release of funds, he said.

The informal meeting of ECOFIN ministers will start this afternoon, while a press conference for the Eurogroup meeting is expected around noon, presenting the results of the discussion led by President of Eurogroup Jeroen Dijsselbloem.

According to the official website of the Irish EU Presidency, the ECOFIN meeting focuses on current economic and financial issues. Participants at the informal ECOFIN include EU Member States’ Finance and Economy Ministers and Governors of the Central Banks of EU Member States, representatives from the EU institutions and international organisations.

In his last statement on Cyprus on March 25, Dijsselbloem said that Cyprus is a specific case with exceptional challenges which required the bail-in measures agreed on. “Macro-economic adjustment programmes are tailor-made to the situation of the country concerned and no models or templates are used” he added.