On Wednesday 22 January, the Croatian Finance Minister, Zdravko Marić, told the European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs that he was keen to make progress on a number of economic, financial and tax issues, but also to encourage discussions on the fight against money laundering.
The Croatian Presidency of the Council of the EU is expected to address this matter, as the European Commission is due to unveil an action plan on the topic on 25 March.
On Tuesday 21 January, the Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, Valdis Dombrovksis, reminded the Member States of their obligations regarding the transposition of the 5th Anti-Money Laundering Directive.
Member states had until 10 January to transpose it into national law, but a number of them have still not done so, Dombrovskis noted with regret at a press conference, but he did not name them. He thus announced that the Commission was ready to launch infringement proceedings against these countries as early as February.
Asked by Eero Heinäluoma (S&D, Finland) about Croatia's ambitions in this area, even though the minister had dropped the issue in his introductory remarks, Zdravko Marić promised to encourage discussions on implementing and improving the fight against money laundering. The Croatian Presidency also plans to put this matter on the agenda of the May and June Ecofin Councils, he said.
Taxation. As for Croatian work with respect to taxation, “a lot will depend on how soon the European Commission will develop new proposals”, said Zdravko Marić, referring in particular to the tax elements of the European Green Deal (see EUROPE 12396/13).
For the rest, Croatia intends to give new impetus to the technical discussions on the proposed harmonisation of the corporate tax base (CCCTB), he explained, while being well aware that many political issues are still ongoing, such as the scope. The Croatian Presidency also aspires to make progress on the definitive VAT regime (see EUROPE 11876/15), he added.
Asked by Paul Tang (S&D, the Netherlands) about the fate of Croatia’s ‘country by country reporting’ (CBCR) proposal, the minister made no promises that the issue would be put on the agenda of an Ecofin Council.
He promised, at the very least, to “invest a lot of our efforts in order to work closely with Member States to identify possible solutions to move forward with this file”. However, on the controversial issue of the legal basis, it is not up to the Croatian Presidency to have the last word, he added.
At the Competitiveness Council on 28 November, Croatia was one of the twelve Member States to oppose the legislation on the table (see EUROPE 12379/13).
EMU. Mr Marić said he was very involved in the issue of deepening the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), not only because Croatia wants to join the euro area “within a few years” (see EUROPE 12408/6), but also because the proper functioning of the Eurozone is in the interests of EU Member States outside of it. It positively evaluated the fact that this issue is being dealt with in the Eurogroup in an inclusive format, i.e. with the participation of all 27 Member States.
The Croatian Presidency also aims to come to a position in the Council of the EU on the legislative proposal regarding the support programme for reforms in the Member States.
Asked by Luis Garicano (Renew Europe, Spain) about the finalisation of the banking union, Mr Marić hoped that a new political impetus would put an end to the continuing deadlock on the establishment of a European Deposit Insurance Scheme (EDIS) (see EUROPE 12384/1). He called for progress in reducing financial risks, especially the treatment of the current stock of non-performing loans (NPLs) and measures to prevent the emergence of NPLs.
Asked by Hervé Juvin (ID, France) and Marek Belka (S&D, Poland) about his country's motivation for adopting the euro, the minister said he did not expect a sharp rise in inflation or a major fluctuation in the kuna in the next two years.
It should be noted that the Croatian Presidency hopes to organise a debate on the macroeconomic impact of demographic developments at the informal meeting of Finance Ministers in Zagreb at the end of April. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana and Mathieu Bion)