The EU's Council of Economic and
Finance (ECOFIN) Ministers will take place in Brussels on 11 March at
10.00. The European Commission will be represented by Olli Rehn, Vice
President and Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs and the
Euro, Michel Barnier, Commissioner for Internal Market and Services, and
Algirdas Šemeta, Commissioner responsible for taxation and customs
union, audit and anti-fraud. A press conference is expected to take
place after the meeting.
Taxation of savings income (ET)
Responding to the call of the
December European Council, the ECOFIN Council will seek to adopt the
proposal to amend the Savings Tax Directive. The proposal aims to close
loopholes and improve the functioning of the current legislation (a
specific memo will be published ahead of the meeting). This proposal is
one of the key actions of the Commission's plan to fight against tax
fraud and evasion (IP/12/1325),
as it will extend the scope of automatic exchange of information within
the EU. Adoption of the proposal will demonstrate the EU's commitment
to remain a front runner in implementing automatic exchange of
information.
Commissioner Šemeta will also
update the Finance Ministers on the good progress being made in tax
negotiations with Switzerland, Monaco, Andorra, San Marino and
Liechtenstein.
Single Resolution Mechanism (CH)
In October 2013, the Council gave the final green light to the Single Supervisory Mechanism (IP/12/953),
the first leg of the Banking Union, which fully entrusts the European
Central Bank (ECB) with the direct supervision of banks in the euro
area. Supervision alone tough is not enough. A banking union also
requires action to restructure non-viable banks when necessary. The
supervisory system needs to be complemented by an integrated European
resolution system for all countries participating in the banking union.
That is why the European Commission has proposed a Single Resolution Mechanism (SRM) for the Banking Union on 10 July 2013 (IP/13/674),
which includes a single resolution board and a single resolution fund
so we can tackle future bank crisis efficiently with minimal costs to
taxpayers and the economy.
The SRM will basically apply the substantive rules of the draft Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive (see IP/12/570 and MEMO/12/416)
in a coherent and centralised way ensuring consistent decisions for the
resolution of banks. At the December 2013 ECOFIN, the Council agreed on
a general approach thus giving a mandate to start the negotiations with
the European Parliament (MEMO/13/1186).
During the upcoming
ECOFIN, the Greek Presidency will inform Ministers of progress in the
trilogue process with the European Parliament. It will also hold a
discussion on outstanding issues with a view to progressing towards
agreement with the European Parliament in the next trilogue.
Commissioner Barnier welcomes the efforts and
commitment of the Greek Presidency to explore compromise solutions to
achieve rapid agreement between the co-legislator on the SRM proposal.
He welcomes Member States' overall support for an effective resolution
mechanism for the Banking Union and looks forward to constructive and
detailed discussion on Tuesday. The timetable is critical to allow the
legislative procedure to be finalised before the end of the current
term.
More information:
Follow-up to G20 Meeting of Finance Ministers and Governors (Sydney, Australia, 22-23 February 2014) (SOC)
The
Commission will inform the ECOFIN Council of the main outcomes of the
first G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting of the
Australian G20 Presidency held in Sydney on 22-23 February 2014.
The issues
at the centre of discussion in Sydney were the global economic outlook
and the development of comprehensive growth strategies for the G20 for
the summit in Brisbane in November. Despite the recent improvements,
there is no room for complacency and ambitious action needs to be taken
to face the challenges of the global economy. Therefore, the last G20
meeting made progress in shaping ambitious growth strategies for the
Brisbane Summit, by agreeing on an aspirational growth objective for the
G20 of more than 2% of additional growth over the period up to 2018...
As VP Rehn said when presenting the winter forecast on 25 February: "All
in all, the worst of the crisis may be behind us, but this is not an
invitation to be complacent... To make the recovery stronger and create
more jobs, we need to stay the course of economic reform. This message
was clearly underlined by the G20 and our partners in the G20 last
weekend in Sydney."
More
specifically on the global outlook, note was taken of the recent
financial market developments in some emerging market economies. The
Central Banks of advanced economies made an effort to explain their
policies while the
authorities of emerging market economies acknowledged the need to
strengthen their domestic macroeconomic and macro-prudential frameworks.
G20 members
also discussed issues related to financial regulation and tax
transparency; on the former, the G20 members agreed on the work
programme in 2014 and acknowledged that focus now must turn to
implementation of the policy initiatives already initiated. On tax
transparency, the G20 endorsed the OECD Common Reporting Standard for
automatic exchange of tax information and the Base Erosion and Profit
Shifting Action Plan. (see statement by Commissioner Šemeta STATEMENT/14/16)
More information:
Preparation of the European Council on 20-21 March 2014 (SOC)
Economic elements of the EU 2030 energy and climate framework
Energy affects macroeconomic
performance through several channels, the main one being the link to
competitiveness, since energy costs affect the production costs of
industries and services, as well as the purchasing power of households
and the overall external balance (see report on "Energy Economic
Development in Europe" MEMO/14/47).
The Commission adopted a proposal for the 2030 energy and climate policy framework on 22 January 2014 (see IP/14/54).
The upcoming discussion at the ECOFIN Council meeting will provide an
input to the European Council in March, which will discuss the framework
proposal.
The ECOFIN Council discussion will
focus on the major economic issues in this package. The aim is to ensure
that these aspects are covered and taken into account by the European
Council, which also will receive input from the Energy and Environmental
Council formations.
The economically relevant aspects of
the package include, beyond the need to complete the internal energy
market, inter alia, (i) one reduction target for greenhouse gas emission
of 40% by 2030, which should ensure a cost-effective path towards our
2050 ambition, (ii) an improved and strengthened EU ETS (Emission
Trading Scheme), which should remain the key policy instrument for
achieving cost-efficient emission reductions, and (iii) a renewable
target for the EU level, which should provide room for more
market-driven and cost-efficient deployment of new technologies.
More information:
