European Union finance ministers will spend Friday and Saturday (13-14 September) in Vilnius focusing on strengthening the EU’s banking system and countering weaknesses in member-state economies.

Given the informal nature of the meeting and the looming elections in Germany and Austria, no decisions or major breakthroughs are expected. But ministers will be well aware of impatience elsewhere.

The EU’s chief partner in financing troubled eurozone economies, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), is chafing at the lack of progress on a ‘banking union’ that can deliver collective banking supervision. Christine Lagarde, the IMF head, called on Tuesday (10 September) for better equipment for the eurozone, which she said was currently merely a “beautiful ship” built for gentle seas.

Michel Barnier, the European commissioner for the internal market, will try to win support for a proposed mechanism to manage the liquidation of failing banks. His ideas will have added pertinence because of Slovenia’s decision on Friday (6 September) to guarantee €1 billion of deposits in two banks, as a prelude to liquidating them.

Ministers will discuss Cyprus’s efforts to secure the next tranche of its €10 billion bail-out from the EU and IMF, following approval on Thursday (5 September) of a series of reforms to the island’s banking system.

Ireland’s finance minister, Eamon Gilmore, is likely to press for an easing of austerity measures demanded by the EU and IMF. Ireland says it can now meet a European Commission-approved budget target with fewer cuts.