At the Ecofin Council on Friday 25 May, the European finance ministers failed to reach unanimous agreement on three dossiers related to value-added tax (VAT) (see EUROPE 12026).
An agreement was, however, hoped for on reinforcing administrative cooperation between member states in the fight against fraud. This hope was rapidly quashed when the French minister took the floor.
Bruno Le Maire acknowledged that the members were “very close to an agreement”, but added that an extra month was...