They first discussed the Commission’s proposal of the Sustainable Finance package adopted on 6 July, which includes a new Strategy for Financing the Transition to a Sustainable Economy, a legislative proposal for a Regulation on European Green Bonds and a delegated Regulation under Article 8 of Taxonomy detailing disclosure rules in place. Hungarian minister Mihály Varga supported the Commission's aim of directing private capital as much as possible towards sustainable activities. The new Strategy for Financing the Transition to a Sustainable Economy is an important step forward, but it is necessary to take into account challenges of the transition period and help activities that gradually lead to a climate-neutral economy. He also supported the issuance of green bonds as they can make it easier to carry out green investments and can contribute to achieving the climate and environment protection goals of the European Union. Finally, he called on the European Commission to publish the supplementing delegated act on technical screening criteria of nuclear energy and natural gas related activities without delay.
Afterwards, the Presidency updated ministers on the state of play of current financial services legislative proposals and also presented to ministers its priorities in the ECOFIN area.
In the context of the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Facility, the Commission presented the state of play with the assessment of the Recovery and Resilience Plans and the next steps, including on the procedures to proceed with the disbursement of pre-financing after adoption of the Council Implementing Decisions. The Commission also updated ministers on the progress with the financing of Next Generation EU. In this context the Council adopted Implementing Decisions approving the Commission’s assessment of the recovery and resilience plans of 12 countries.
Under the 2021 European Semester, the Council approved the conclusions on the 2021 in-depth reviews.
Finally, the Presidency, the Commission and the Italian G20 Presidency informed the ministers about the outcomes of the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting which took place on 9 and 10 July in Venice.
