Brussels, 09/02/2016 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 12 February, the European finance ministers will discuss new measures to fight aggressive tax optimisation and the financing of terrorism.
The Ecofin Council will hold an initial exchange of views on the two legislative proposals tabled by the European Commission on 28 January to tackle aggressive corporate tax planning (see EUROPE 11473 and 11478). The first is an anti-tax-avoidance directive together with proposals taken from the OECD action plan to fight the phenomenon (the BEPS project) and rules included in the initial proposal for a common consolidated corporate tax base (CCCTB). The European Parliament has called on the member states not to water down this text (see EUROPE 11481).
The other legislative proposal on the table is a modification of the directive on administrative cooperation, with the aim of introducing the OECD model of country-by-country reporting into the EU (in other words the exchange between states of information provided by businesses to the tax authorities). The Commission will present another specific proposal in April to seek to satisfy civil society and the EP, which are calling for this reporting to be public (see EUROPE 11484).
It is worth noting that there will be no ministerial meeting of ten on the financial transaction tax.
Terrorism. The ministers will discuss the action plan to fight the financing of terrorism presented by the Commission in February by initiative of France (see EUROPE 11481). In the conclusions they will adopt, they will call upon the Commission to present, before the end of June, targeted modifications to the fourth 'anti-money-laundering' directive (2015/849) and, if necessary, to the 'payment services' directive (2007/64), to step up controls on virtual currencies (e.g. Bitcoin) and pre-paid non-bank payment cards and to facilitate the access of the national financial intelligence cells to bank data. Measures to further limit illegal movements of cash will be presented by the end of the year (modification of Regulation 1889/2005 on controls of movements of cash), according to the draft of which EUROPE has had sight.
The Ecofin Council will take stock of the concretisation of banking union in the eurozone and the application of the related legislative texts ('BRRD' and 'deposit guarantee' directives). Luxembourg has just ratified the inter-governmental treaty on which the Single Resolution Fund (SRF) is partially based.
Budget. Mario Monti, the former Italian Prime Minister, will present the work of the high-level group on the own resources of the EU, of which he is the chair (see EUROPE 11348 and 11255). By the end of 2016, this body will adopt its final report together with recommendations. This subject of own resources is part of the discussions for the mid-term revision of the multi-annual financial framework of the EU for 2014-2020.
The ministers will also adopt budgetary orientations for 2017 (see EUROPE 11485). (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion, Elodie Lamer and Lionel Changeur)