Brussels, 01/06/2016 (Agence Europe) - The Dutch Presidency of the Council of the EU says that it is now “clear” that negotiations on the 'shareholders' rights' directive will continue under the Slovakian Presidency, due to the issue of country-by-country fiscal transparency (reporting). This political issue will “require some time”, according to a note of the Council ahead of the meeting of the representatives of the member states to the EU this Friday 3 June.
At the inter-institutional negotiations of Monday 30 May, the MEPs confirmed that the EP wished to keep in the text its amendments introducing this country-by-country reporting. On 25 May, the permanent representatives of the states however gave the Dutch Presidency a renewed mandate. According to a document of the Presidency dated 20 May, of which EUROPE has had sight, this new mandate provided for the EP's amendments on country-by-country reporting to be removed from the text. All of the delegations supported the idea that the reporting would be discussed in the context of the Commission's recent proposal to this effect in the framework of the accounting standards directive.
“We are not far from an agreement on the rest” of the 'shareholders' rights' text, a Council source regretted. At the EP, it is felt that there is still a lot of work to do, even on the other elements. Technical trialogues are to be held on 17 and 24 June. (Original version in French by Élodie Lamer)