Sopot, 29/07/2011 (Agence Europe) - At their informal meeting in Sopot on Friday 29 July, EU European affairs ministers fought for there to be a disassociation of debate between revenue and spending in the next financial framework for 2014-2020 - something which MEPs refuse.
In terms of revenue, the Commission proposes to do away with the VAT own resource while at the same time establishing new own resources, including the financial transaction tax (FTT) and the creation of a new VAT resource as of 1 January 2018.
The French secretary of state for European affairs, Jean Leonetti, said that France was not opposed to a financial transaction tax - on condition that this income lightens contributions by member states.
On the subject of VAT, the United Kingdom took a clear stance. British European Affairs Minister David Lidington said they were opposed to any further European tax and that the only increase they could accept would be on the basis of inflation. France, for its part, is reticent about a new VAT resource. It fears this would have too great an impact on consumption and purchasing power.
The matter of the British rebate (on its contribution to the EU budget) and the rebates granted to four other countries (Germany, Netherlands, Austria and Sweden) was also raised. The Commission hopes to reform the correction mechanisms, considered far from transparent. Janusz Lewandowski, European Financial Programming and Budget Commissioner, said that the current correcting mechanism “goes back to a different era. The calculation of rebates is far too complicated. We must make it more transparent”. (V.W./transl.jl)