Siim Kallas is a Soviet and Estonian politician, former Prime Minister of Estonia, and former European Commissioner, as well as a former member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. He served as the European Commissioner for Transport between 2010 and 2014. Before that he was the European Commissioner for Administrative Affairs, Audit and Anti-Fraud between 2004 and 2009. In both Barroso Commissions he was also a Vice-President. He was twice appointed the Acting Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs and the Euro in Olli Rehn's stead, from 19 April 2014 to 25 May 2014 while he was on electoral campaign leave for the 2014 elections to the European Parliament and from 1 July 2014 to 16 July 2014 after he took up his seat.
The euro area, commonly called the eurozone (EZ), is a currency union of 20 member states of the European Union (EU) that have adopted the euro (€) as their primary currency and sole legal tender, and have thus fully implemented EMU policies.
Olli Ilmari Rehn is a Finnish economist and public official who has been serving as governor of the Bank of Finland since 2018. A member of the Centre Party, he previously served as the European Commissioner for Enlargement from 2004 to 2010, European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs and the Euro from 2010 to 2014, and Minister of Economic Affairs in Juha Sipilä's cabinet from 2015 until 2016. Rehn is running for President of Finland in 2024.
Valdis Dombrovskis is a Latvian politician serving as Executive Vice President of the European Commission for An Economy that Works for People since 2019 and European Commissioner for Trade since 2020. He previously served as European Commissioner for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union from 2016 to 2020 and Prime Minister of Latvia from 2009 to 2014.
Latvia replaced its previous currency, the lats, with the euro on 1 January 2014, after a European Union (EU) assessment in June 2013 asserted that the country had met all convergence criteria necessary for euro adoption. The adoption process began 1 May 2004, when Latvia joined the European Union, entering the EU's Economic and Monetary Union. At the start of 2005, the lats was pegged to the euro at Ls 0.702804 = €1, and Latvia joined the European Exchange Rate Mechanism, four months later on 2 May 2005.
The European Commissioner for External Relations was a member of the European Commission with responsibility over the Commissions external representation in the world and the European Union's (EU) Neighbourhood Policy (ENP). The responsibility was shared though between other Commission posts and the High Representative.
The Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs is a Directorate-General of the European Commission. The DG ECFIN is located in Brussels, Belgium, and Luxembourg. Its main responsibility is to encourage the development of Economic and Monetary Union both inside and outside the European Union, by advancing economic policy coordination, conducting economic surveillance and providing policy assessment and advice.
The European Commissioner for Trade is the member of the European Commission responsible for the European Union's common commercial policy.
An (Executive)Vice-President of the European Commission is a member of the European Commission who leads the commission's work in particular focus areas in which multiple European Commissioners participate. Currently, the European Commission has a total of seven Vice-Presidents: three Executive-Vice Presidents, three regular Vice-Presidents, and the High Representative who is ex officio also one of the Vice-Presidents.
The European Commissioner for Budget and Administration is the member of the European Commission who is responsible for negotiating and managing the EU budget. The current commissioner is Johannes Hahn.
The Commissioner for Industry and Entrepreneurship was a vice-president of the European Commission.
The Eurogroup is the recognised collective term for the informal meetings of the finance ministers of the eurozone—those member states of the European Union (EU) which have adopted the euro as their official currency. The group has 20 members. It exercises political control over the currency and related aspects of the EU's monetary union such as the Stability and Growth Pact. The current President of the Eurogroup is Paschal Donohoe, the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform of Ireland.
Luis de Guindos Jurado is a Spanish politician serving as Vice-President of the European Central Bank since 2018. He previously served as Spain's Minister of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness from 2011 to 2018.
The Juncker Commission was the European Commission in office from 1 November 2014 to 30 November 2019. Its president was Jean-Claude Juncker, who presided over 27 other commissioners. In July 2014, Juncker was officially elected to succeed José Manuel Barroso, who completed his second five-year term in that year.
The European Commissioner for Financial Stability, Financial Services and the Capital Markets Union is the member of the European Commission responsible for banking and finance. The current officeholder is Mairead McGuinness.
The troika is a term used to refer to the single decision group created by three entities, the European Commission (EC), the European Central Bank (ECB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). It was formed in the aftermath of the European debt crisis as an ad hoc authority with a mandate to manage the bailouts of Cyprus, Greece, Ireland and Portugal, in the aftermath of their prospective insolvency caused by the world financial crisis of 2007–2008.
The Directorate-General for Structural Reform Support is the European Union body assisting European Member States in the implementation of technical and structural reforms. The Directorate-General succeeds the Structural Reform Support Service (SRSS) as of 1 January 2020 and coordinates the European Commission's work on designing and implementing national reforms and to coordinate and provide technical support to Member States through the Technical Support Instrument.
