In the margins of the Eurogroup meeting on 8 July, representatives of the euro area Member States, the European Central Bank and Denmark met in the presence of the European Commission and Croatia to discuss prospects for Croatia's participation in the ERM II. During the Eurogroup meeting, ministers discussed the post-programme reports on Greece and Spain, as well as the budgetary situation in the euro area as a whole. The Chairman of the European Fiscal Board (EFB), Niels Thygesen, presented the EFB's recently published report, and the Commission presented its assessment. Euro area finance ministers also took stock of work by the Commission and the ECB regarding the international role of the euro and were informed about the Commission's decision on Italy in the context of the spring 2019 round of fiscal surveillance. They discussed ESM reform, banking union and the budgetary instrument for convergence and competitiveness. During the ECOFIN meeting on 9 July, the Finnish Presidency presented its priorities in the area of economic and financial affairs. Ministers also took stock of the state of play regarding the own resources legislative package, in particular the possibility of potential new sources of revenue. The Council adopted a recommendation to the European Council on the nomination of Christine Lagarde as the next president of the European Central Bank and issued its 2019 recommendations and opinions to Member States’ on their economic, employment and fiscal policies, thereby concluding this year's European Semester exercise.