Brdo pri Kranju/Brussels - EU finance ministers are optimistic about the health and economic situation in the EU and eurozone, noting it is significantly better than expected months ago. However, they also cautioned that the danger was not over yet and plenty of challenges remained as they held talks in Brdo pri Kranju on Friday.

Following a morning meeting of the Eurogroup, European Commissioner for Economy Paolo Gentiloni said an analysis of the epidemiological situation by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control confirmed that the EU's vaccination campaign had been a great success.

Nevertheless, risks and issues still loom on the horizon, not only from the epidemiological point of view, but also taking into account bottlenecks in supply chains and inflation developments, he warned.

President of the European Central Bank (ECB) Christine Lagarde said the current situation was better than expected months ago, urging ongoing decisive action and cooperation.

The ECB is determined to continue to provide support needed for maintaining favourable financial conditions and hence sustainable recovery.

Managing Director of the European Stability Mechanism Klaus Regling pointed out that financial markets were rarely as optimistic about Europe as they were now as they saw higher risks in the US.

However, he also cautioned much was still to be done, highlighting convergence as the EU and eurozone's main goal. Efforts to step up risk sharing, meaning finish banking union projects, are thus key.

The Eurogroup meeting was dedicated to the economic situation, convergence, corporate solvency and the digital euro project.

What will follow is the first part of an informal session of all EU finance ministers, which will focus on the impact of climate risks on financial markets and possibilities of channelling IMF Special Drawing Rights to vulnerable countries.

The session will wrap up on Saturday when fiscal scenarios to provide resilient recovery will top the agenda alongside future investment possibilities and efforts to upgrade the global corporate tax system in the digital era.