OREANDA-NEWS  On 03 March was announced, that Ivars Godmanis, Prime Minister of the Republic of Latvia, participated in the informal meeting of the European Council (EC). The main objective of the meeting was to pursue an in-depth discussion on the current EU financial and economic crisis.

After the exchange of views on the current situation and the EU, as well as on measures taken at the level of the Member States, the European Council agreed on several further action lines aimed at stabilising and improving the situation – particularly in order to promote the stability of the financial system and to restore confidence in financial markets, as well as to stimulate the EU economy and achieve its recovery.

The heads of states and governments expressed their confidence in the medium and long term recovery of all EU economies. The European Council paid particular attention to the situation of the Member States in central and eastern Europe, underlining the importance of coordinated action towards ensuring macro-financial stability throughout the European Union.

Concerning the financial sector, the heads of states and governments of Europe recognised the crucial importance of ensuring the flow of financial resources and the accessibility to credit resources, as well as the need to improve the regulation and supervision of financial institutions, and to underline the importance of dealing with so-called "bad" (impaired) banking assets (toxic assets etc).

In order to achieve the recovery of the European economy, the European Council stressed the necessity to pursue the action programme approved within the framework of the European Council of December, and, during the European Council of March 19-20, to assess the implementation of the programme both at European and national levels and draw the necessary conclusions. The European Council highlighted the importance of exercising full potential of the EU internal market in order to increase the EU economic activity and employment.

With regard to the negative impact of the current economic situation on employment, the European Council recognised the importance of appropriate measures, mentioning that at the EU level, all existing tools such as the European Social Fund assistance will be used to improve the situation in the employment sphere. The EU Member States agreed to hold another informal meeting of the European Council in May this year in order to focus on current social and employment issues.

During the European Council, the Member States began preparations for the summit of the leaders of G-20 countries. The European Council agreed that during its meeting of March 19-20 it will prepare a joint EU's position with regard to the G-20 summit.