Sweden has announced in its programme for the EU Council Presidency that it will continue discussions on the revision of the Energy Taxation Directive. “The current directive is outdated and is not coordinated with other EU measures”, it said in the document summarising its priorities for January to June 2023. At the last Ecofin Council on Tuesday 6 December, EU ministers failed to agree on how to achieve environmental objectives (see EUROPE 13078/4).
The Presidency will also continue work on the proposal for new rules on value added tax (VAT) in the digital age. On Thursday 8 December, the European Commission presented a series of measures to modernise the EU’s VAT system (see EUROPE 13080/19).
The European Commission also presented a revision of the ‘DAC8’ directive on administrative cooperation in the field of taxation to include crypto-assets. The Presidency announced that it was ready to take forward the work on this issue. In addition, it will “work to ensure greater tax transparency and to reinforce the exchange of relevant information within the EU”.
In the area of direct taxation, priority will be given to measures aiming to prevent and combat tax evasion, aggressive tax planning and harmful tax competition, such as updating the EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions (see EUROPE 13035/32).
In the area of customs, the Presidency will advance the ongoing efforts to reform the customs union, as it plays an important role in many areas, including facilitating competitive neutrality in international trade. The idea of centralising customs services was raised under the Czech Presidency in October (see EUROPE 13035/15). “Improved cooperation between the Member States, and between the European Commission and the Member States, is crucial”, said the Swedish Presidency.
Read the Presidency programme: https://aeur.eu/f/4p5 (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)