REITERATING the determination of this Government, like the last, "to be in the first wave of countries to join EMU", the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, yesterday also spelled out his communication strategy on exchange rates - "the buttoned-lip".

Mr McCreevy, here for his first meeting of EU finance ministers, responded to questions on the value of the pound by saying that he had studied currency movements for 30 years, ever since his days a student, and was convinced that ministers for finance should not comment on them.

He was not going to get in to the business of making money for the markets, he said - "neither I nor my officials will help the markets".

On the looming review of structural funding, Mr McCreevy denied suggestions that the Government would use the referendum on the Amsterdam Treaty as a bargaining tool for extra funding "but", he said, "when the Cabinet considered the timing big European issues such as the future enlargement and financing should be known about".

He said the Government would fight for the maximum possible retention of funds for Ireland.

The ministers gave a qualified thumbs up to Italy's plans for qualifying for the single currency, warning that further economic measures may be needed. Ministers praised Rome for what had been done so far, but few believe that on current figures, particularly the projections for the deficit in 1998, Italy will be able to convince fellow member-states of the sustainability of its current efforts.

The conclusions of the meeting made plain that further measures in debt reduction and social welfare reform were needed and that the government should proceed in reducing its deficit through cuts rather than tax increases.

The Italian minister, Mr Carlo Ciampi, told fellow ministers that Italy was prepared to do what was necessary. "If needed to respect the criteria, we will take other measures," he said.

The French and German ministers also put down markers that they expected to see further efforts during the Luxembourg Presidency on tax harmonisation. The German minister, Mr Theo Waigel, expressed concern about the luring of companies from one EU state to another on the basis of lower taxes.

He supported calls for a tax code of conduct between member-states, but his French counterpart, Mr Dominique Strauss-Kahn, insisted they would have to go further and introduce binding rules.