Eurogroup, European Commission chiefs warn economic risk

LISBON, March 1 (Xinhua) -- Portugal's Finance Minister, Mario Centeno, president of the Eurogroup, and Valdis Dombrovskis, vice president of the European Commission, expressed economic caution at a conference here Thursday.

"The next crisis will come, sooner or later, and we need to be better prepared to face up to the challenges," Dombrovskis told assembled economists, local journalists and students.

The European Union (EU) was having "a positive economic moment," he said, and it was "important that we use this moment to put into place what's needed to strengthen economic and monetary union."

Centeno, who in January became head of the Eurogroup, which represents the finance ministers of the EU's 19 eurozone countries, was equally heedful.

"The euro emerged from the recent crisis stronger and the economic situation of the union is now improved. So why are we worried? Because we learned our lesson in the worst way possible," said Centeno.

He went on to stress the importance of sharing risk among member countries and creating a common deposits fund.

"We're not totally safe yet. There are still things we need to do and some of them are urgent," he said.

The conference took place at the Lisbon School of Economics and Management and was promoted by the European Commission as part of its Citizen's Dialogues programma. Enditem