Brussels, 24/11/2000 (Agence Europe) - The problem of taxation will be the key issue discussed at the Ecofin Council to open on Sunday (after the meeting of the Eurogroup), and continuing on Monday. The whole of Sunday evening will be devoted to the issue of savings tax (see yesterday's EUROPE, p.7) which, when necessary, could be taken up again by ministers the following day. On Monday, Finance Minister Laurent Fabius will invite his peers to tackle the following issues:
- Financial services. This issue will be addressed in turn by: i) Mr Lamfalussy, who will present the progress report of the "Committee of the Wise" on the regulation of the financial markets and financial information, of which he is Chair; ii) Commissioner Bolkestein, who will present the third annual report of the Commission on implementation of the action plan for financial services. The round the table discussion arising from this will allow Mr Lamfalussy to gather the political indications for continuing the work of his Committee, so that the final report - expected for the month of February - may be well founded from a technical point of view and politically realistic. The Council should share the provisional analysis of the Committee of the Wise concerning the challenges facing the financial market regulators and the need, for raising such challenges, of urgently adapting the traditional regulatory framework. EUROPE recalls that, on the basis of the final report in February, the Council should be able to draw operational conclusions in the context of preparations for the European Council of Stockholm.
- Annual report by Court of Auditors. President of the Court Mr Karlsson will present the substance of this report to the ministers who will have the opportunity, as well as the Commission, to make preliminary comments. The Council will then entrust the Committee of Permanent Representatives to examine the report with a view to preparing the debate and adoption of the Council's Recommendation to the EP on the discharge to be given to the Commission during the March 2001 session.
- Medium term economic and financial stability of candidate countries. The Council should approve a Declaration prepared by the Economic and Financial Committee on the basis of a contribution from Commission services. This Declaration will be addressed to the General Affairs Council in order to be integrated in the report on enlargement to be submitted to the European Council in Nice. In order to accompany the adjustment process of the economies of candidate countries, the finance ministers foresee regular dialogue with these countries on their pre-accession programmes and assessments of macro-economic and financial stability to be established annually by the Commission. This dialogue should take place in a multilateral forum including the members of the Economic and Financial Committee and senior representatives of the candidate countries. The Forum should become active from the start of the forthcoming Swedish Presidency.
- Stability programmes. The revised programmes of Germany, Finland and the Netherlands will be judged by the Council on the basis of examination by the Commission (see EUROPE of 16 November, p.10) and of the Economic and Financial Committee. Conclusions will be adopted by the Council.
During lunch, the ministers may discuss:
a) the report by the economic and financial committee concerning questions linked to the Union's institutional reform, of interest to the Ecofin Council (extension of qualified majority vote for certain articles referring to EMU and to taxation);
b) macro-economic assistance to the Balkans following the meeting of the High Level Group on 14 November in Paris;
c) the financial aspects of the Galileo programme;
d) questions relating to the financing of Chernobyl dismantling.
Contrary to the hopes of the Presidency, the Council will not be able to reach an agreement on the draft directive aimed at applying the principle of taxation in the place where digital goods downloaded from the Internet are consumed (see EUROPE of 20 October, p.11) and will be limited to taking stock of the situation on the issue
On Sunday, Eurogroup will work on the basis of the Commission's autumn economic forecasts
The Eurogroup will meet on Sunday from 17h30 on, under the chairmanship of Laurent Fabius. It will proceed to its traditional overview of the situation and economic perspectives, this time on the basis of the economic forecasts that have just been made by the Commission (see EUROPE of 23 November, p.7). It should also take stock of the situation on budgetary consolidation, the improvement of economic information and the practical aspects of preparing for the introduction of the euro.
