The fight against climate change, energy taxation, the relaunch of the Capital Markets Union, hybrid threats: European Finance Ministers will have a busy post-holiday agenda on Friday 13 and Saturday 14 September for their informal meeting in Helsinki.
Climate. On Friday, ministers will discuss ways to make progress in the fight against climate change at a lunch meeting. The aim is to organise regular political discussions on this topic and to define matters of priority for possible measures in the form of an agenda, explains the Finnish Presidency.
In a Note prepared for the meeting, it highlighted the many ways in which European finance ministers can mitigate climate change, such as carbon pricing, budget planning and the allocation of European funds.
“Finance ministers can strengthen the use of economic resources to advance climate action. To do this, we need a work plan”, Finnish Finance Minister Mika Lintilä said Monday in a statement.
Energy taxation. On Saturday, they will discuss the European framework for energy taxation, which has remained unchanged since 2003. The Commission is currently studying the Energy Taxation Directive and is expected to publish its assessment in the autumn.
The discussion therefore aims to identify the main elements that should be taken into account when revising the directive (see EUROPE 12323/10), explains the Presidency.
CMU. Ministers will also discuss matters of priority for the Capital Markets Union (CMU) during the next institutional cycle.
While almost all the measures provided for in the Commission's 2015 Action Plan (see EUROPE 11399/2) have been implemented, the Presidency contends that “the time has come to assess where this work has taken us and where we must go from here”.
“A new start - a restart - for the CMU should be an absolute priority for this institutional cycle”, it wrote, with a particular emphasis on SMEs and the digitisation of financial services.
Hybrid threats. European finance ministers won’t be able to avoid the working session on hybrid threats, one of the key themes of Finland's EU Council Presidency, which has already been discussed in several Council configurations.
According to a Note from the Presidency, the financial sector, which is responsible for the operation of a number of critical services for society, is a “very attractive target for malicious hybrid actions”.
The discussion will focus on new threats to financial markets and how to combat them. Ministers will also assess the need to strengthen intersectoral cooperation so that hybrid threats can be addressed in a more comprehensive manner.
Fiscal rules. Finally, the European Union's major funders will work on changes to the rules in Union law with regard to fiscal matters. While these rules are scheduled to be evaluated by the institution by the end of the year, the ministerial discussion should provide some food for thought.
The last legislative proposals adopted in this area date back to 2011-2013, within the framework of the ‘two-pack’ and ‘six-pack’ regulations. Several points must be addressed by the ministers.
They will indeed discuss the corrective arm of the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP), namely the criteria relating to the nominal deficit and public debt. It should be recalled that, with Spain's exit from the Excessive Deficit Procedure in June (see EUROPE 12275/5), no Member State is now subject to the Pact’s corrective arm. The Pact’s preventive arm and the fiscal efforts made by the various Member States on the structural front will also be discussed.
The Pact’s rules are subject to a variety of criticisms, both for their non-application by some States and for the indicators it uses. The complexity of these rules is also often highlighted, while others question their purpose.
A rather broad discussion between EU Finance Ministers is therefore expected to take place on this subject. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana and Lucas Tripoteau)