17/04/2019 (Agence Europe) – On Wednesday 17 April in Strasbourg, MEPs approved by 575 votes to 35, with 46 abstentions, the partial political agreement reached in February (see EUROPE 12219/28) between representatives of the European Parliament and the EU Council on the 'Fiscalis' programme for the period 2021-2027, which aims to encourage cooperation between the tax administrations of the EU Member States (see EUROPE 12037/15). The agreement (see EUROPE 12199/16) also provides for a list of priority actions on which national tax authorities should work to combat tax evasion and fraud and adds joint audits to the activities covered by the programme. The budgetary aspects still need to be settled during the horizontal negotiations on the Multiannual Financial Framework for 2021–2027. The Parliament requested a 10 % increase over the 270 million euro financial envelope proposed by the Commission. (MF)