Representatives of the European Parliament and the Romanian Presidency of the Council of the European Union reached a political agreement in principle on Thursday 21 February on the 'Fiscalis' programme for the 2021-2027 period, which aims to encourage cooperation between EU tax authorities (see EUROPE 12037).
Contacted by EUROPE, the European Parliament rapporteur, Sven Giegold (Greens/EFA, Germany), expressed his satisfaction with the outcome of the negotiations (see EUROPE 12180) and was pleased that this “good programme would be even better after this deal”.
The programme now has clear objectives and priority themes set out in the annex, which were not foreseen in the initial proposal, he explained. The wording has also been modified slightly and the text now explicitly mentions the objective of combating tax evasion and tax avoidance.
The agreement also takes up the European Parliament's proposal to encourage the implementation of specific actions with the participation of tax authorities in the least developed non-member states (see EUROPE 12144).
Finally, the co-legislators have improved the proposal on the reporting front, he said. The final text provides, inter alia, for a report to the European Parliament and the public on progress in tax cooperation.
The European Parliament also requested an increase in the financial allocation to €339 million at current prices, compared to the €270 million proposed by the European Commission. However, this point must in turn be resolved in the horizontal negotiations on the multiannual financial framework for 2021-2027. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)