On Tuesday, 1 December, the EU finance ministers will meet by videoconference to discuss a number of tax issues, the economic situation and take stock of the Banking Union and the Capital Markets Union.
Taxation. Ministers will first have an exchange of views, which will be public, on the proposal (DAC 7) to amend EU Council Directive (2011/16/EU) on administrative cooperation in the field of taxation (DAC) in order to extend automatic exchange of information to digital platforms such as Uber and Airbnb (see EUROPE 12528/3).
At the last videoconference meeting of EU Finance Ministers, German Minister Olaf Scholz urged his colleagues to reach an agreement on this text quickly (see EUROPE 12595/4).
An agreement was finally reached on 20 November at technical level (see EUROPE 12607/18) and was endorsed by the Member States' Ambassadors to the EU (Coreper) on Friday 27 November. The text broadly maintains the substance of the Commission's proposal, but adds certain provisions in order not to impose double reporting on platforms.
Since no text can be formally adopted by videoconference, the general approach of the EU Council will be adopted later by written procedure. On Tuesday, the finance ministers will therefore simply be invited to read the text and give their support, a European source explained.
Ministers will also have a general exchange of views on international tax issues.
In EU Council conclusions (see EUROPE 12607/19), which were approved on Friday following a written procedure, Member States confirmed their support for the work of the OECD on international tax reform (see EUROPE 12591/24) with a view to reaching, by mid-2021 at the latest, a consensual solution at the global level.
At the same time, the text recalls that the Commission has already committed itself to presenting, in the framework of the EU's post-Covid-19 Recovery Plan, proposals for new own resources by June 2021, including a resource based on the digital sector.
The conclusions also address the revision of the mandate of the Code of Conduct Group in the EU Council, proposed in July by the Commission in its Communication “Tax good governance standards in the EU and beyond” (see EUROPE 12528/2), on which the German Presidency launched discussions in the EU Council.
According to the same source, in order to slow down the discussions, some Member States are said to have expressed the wish to wait for the OECD to reach an agreement on Pillar II of the international tax reform - minimum taxation - before continuing discussions on this subject.
In this respect, the conclusions reaffirm the EU Council's “readiness to continue the review of the scope of the mandate as soon as there are relevant international developments, but no later than early 2022”
Economic situation. Ministers will also discuss the economic situation and the ‘European Semester’ 2021 budget year.
In particular, the European Commission will present its autumn economic forecasts (see EUROPE 12596/1) as well as the Early Warning System Report 2021 and the recommendation on economic policy for the euro area (see EUROPE 12604/1).
According to a European source, some countries might, during the discussion, point out that the recommendation on the economic policy of the euro area takes up challenges that are common to the whole of the EU.
Ministers are also expected to exchange views on draft EU Council conclusions on international debt relief efforts, in particular for African countries, in response to the conclusions of the European Council on 16 October, which had expressed its determination to pursue international efforts to relieve the debt burden of African countries (see EUROPE 12610/21). The text in question should be adopted on Monday 30 November, following a written procedure.
Banking Union. After the Eurogroup (see EUROPE 12610/20), the day before, it will be the turn of the EU27 Finance Ministers to take stock of the work carried out at technical level on the completion of Banking union in the euro area.
The German Presidency will present its progress report on the results of the four informal meetings of the ad hoc working party on strengthening the Banking union held during its Presidency, which focused on: - measures to improve crisis management; - further integration of the EU banking sector; - regulatory treatment of sovereign exposures; - the design of the European Deposit Insurance Scheme (EDIS).
Capital Markets Union. Ministers will also discuss the draft conclusions which set out the EU Council's priorities among the measures set out in the Commission's action plan (see EUROPE 12562/9) to accelerate the establishment of the Capital Markets Union (CMU).
Ministers had already held a first ministerial discussion in October (see EUROPE 12575/6), which showed broad support for the action plan.
The text, which is expected to be submitted to Coreper next week, states that the highest priority should be given to actions that improve the financing of the economy and which have the potential to support post-Covid-19 economic recovery.
In particular, Member States support the proposed measures to facilitate access to capital market financing for businesses, especially SMEs, and to support insurers, banks and other institutional investors to invest more in EU companies.
Budget. Finally, the President of the European Court of Auditors will present to ministers the annual report on the implementation of the budget for the financial year 2019, published on 10 November (see EUROPE 12599/32), which also concludes that there are too many errors in payments, especially in the category of ‘high-risk expenditure’.
The German Presidency will also take stock of progress on recent legislative proposals on financial services, in particular the capital market stimulus package (see EUROPE 12535/11) and the proposals on crypto-assets (see EUROPE 12567/2).
For its part, Italy will present the priorities for its presidency of the G20 in 2021. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)