Meeting on 3 December, euro area finance ministers continued preparations for the Euro Summit that will take place on 14 December. They agreed on a report to leaders on EMU deepening, including draft terms of reference of the common backstop to the Single Resolution Board, a term sheet on European Stability Mechanism reform and a way forward on the banking union and possible instruments for competitiveness, convergence and stabilisation. Earlier, meeting in regular format, the Eurogroup discussed the overall budgetary situation and prospects in the euro area and reviewed the economic and fiscal situation of Member States. For the first time, no country is expected this year to register an excessive deficit. Ministers also reviewed the first enhanced surveillance report for Greece, the draft Eurogroup work programme for the first semester of 2019, and the main findings from post-programme surveillance missions to Cyprus and Spain, as well as the IMF’s euro area Article IV interim mission. At their ECOFIN meeting on 3 December, EU finance ministers endorsed the result of negotiations with the European Parliament on banking package risk reduction measures, reviewed Commission work on implementing the Council's July 2017 action plan on non-performing loans, and discussed a report assessing progress on the European deposit insurance scheme. They also held a policy debate on the proposal to establish a digital services tax, adopted conclusions on an action plan to better tackle money laundering and terrorist financing, adopted legislation to fix issues pending the introduction of a new VAT system, and evaluated the ongoing significant deviation procedures of Hungary and Romania.