On Tuesday 5 May, European finance ministers will be discussing closer cooperation on cross-border VAT fraud, the macroeconomic consequences of the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, and Denmark’s modified recovery and resilience plan. The Economic and Financial Affairs Council (Ecofin) will also be the occasion for a further debate between ministers on the vast ‘MISP’ package proposed by the Commission to reform the architecture of the EU’s financial markets in order to improve their competitiveness (see EUROPE 13859/28).
MISP. After more than a dozen meetings of experts in the EU Council, the Cyprus Presidency wishes to reach a political agreement on two key institutional elements of the package where divisions persist between EU countries: the scope of direct supervision by ESMA and the arrangements for its governance (see EUROPE 13857/8).
“Discussions so far at the technical level have confirmed broad support for the goals of the package (...). At the same time, discussions have highlighted that a number of key issues require political guidance”, said a senior European diplomat on Monday.
War in the Middle East. The day after the Eurogroup meeting (see other news), ministers will also take stock of the macroeconomic consequences of the war in the Middle East, which has now entered its third month.
If the conflict continues, the global growth scenario is likely to be revised downwards, while soaring fossil fuel prices are causing inflation to surge, to 3% in April in the euro area.
At this stage, unlike Italy and Spain (see EUROPE 13856/3), the European Commission and a majority of Member States consider that the conditions for activating the flexibility of the Stability and Growth Pact have not been met. At a time when Member States’ public finances are worse off than at the time of the Covid-19 pandemic, the official line is as follows: emergency budgetary measures to help households and businesses directly affected by soaring energy prices must be targeted, temporary and proportionate.
VAT. The Cyprus Presidency is confident that, on Tuesday, it will be able to secure the unanimous support of Member States for the proposal for a regulation aimed at strengthening cooperation on cross-border VAT fraud between the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO), the Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) and the Eurofisc network, which brings together experts from the EU Member States (see EUROPE 13752/16).
The new framework, which will amend Regulation 904/2010 on administrative cooperation for tax purposes, will give the EPPO and OLAF more direct access to key VAT data on transactions in the EU and thus support their investigations into cross-border fraud, particularly so-called ‘carousel’ fraud.
The Cyprus Presidency’s compromise proposal provides for additional safeguards concerning access to data, specifies the application of the regulation for Member States not participating in the European Public Prosecutor’s Office and clarifies the responsibilities of the parties involved.
See the Cyprus Presidency’s compromise text: https://aeur.eu/f/lsx
Ukraine. Ministers will take stock of the implementation of the EU’s macro-financial assistance to Ukraine as a result of the Russian military aggression to which the country has been subjected for over four years. With regard to the €90 billion EU loan for 2026 and 2027 recently adopted by the EU Council (see EUROPE 13855/2), a number of technical documents remain to be finalised, in particular the investments and reforms that Kyiv will undertake in return to bring itself into line with the acquis communautaire. It should also be noted that the United Kingdom has expressed an interest in contributing to the EU loan for the purchase of military equipment by Ukraine (see other news).
See the latest information available on Ukraine’s fulfilment of the conditions for support: https://aeur.eu/f/lsv
RRF. The Ecofin Council will approve a revision of Denmark’s post-Covid-19 recovery plan, without debate (see EUROPE 13859/35).
See the Council decision and its annex: https://aeur.eu/f/lqp
On Monday, the Commission issued guidelines for finalising the national recovery plans (see other news), with the deadline for payment requests set at 31 August. It also warns Member States that certain obligations in terms of reporting, auditing and controls will remain in 2027 after the end of the European recovery plan, NextGenerationEU.
Finally, ministers will discuss the costs inherent in European legislative proposals, an initiative launched in 2025 by Denmark (see EUROPE 13712/10). (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion and Bernard Denuit)