Brussels, 21/06/2001 (Agence Europe) - During the presentation before the press, on Thursday, of the priorities of the future Belgian Presidency in economic and financial matters, the Belgian Minister for Finance, Didier Reynders indicated that it would firstly want to succeed in the transition to the Euro, notably thanks to the communication actions covering the "reasons for being of the single currency, teaching the new pricing scales, the preparation for the transition and the details for the exchange of fiduciary currencies". The key dates for these information campaigns, which will be organised in close cooperation between the European Central Bank (ECB), the European Commission and the Member States, are as follows: - presentation of fiduciary means of payment, including the pre-supply of professionals during the informal Ecofin Council (Liege, from 21 to 23 September); - pre-supply of individuals in coins during the Laeken Summit (14 and 15 December); - beginning of distribution of notes at end of Belgian Presidency (31 December 2001). The will normally not be any pre-supply of the Euro in notes before 1 January 2002, he regretted, while hoping to be able to introduce small denominations notes during the preparatory tests for cash machines.
Other than the coordination of economic policies, including in structural matters (improvement of follow-up for the budgetary policies of countries, enhancing of growth potential under angle of industrial investments, role of venture capital and an increase in rate of employment, assessment of the impact of ageing on health care, Belgium intends to relaunch the debate over direct financing, through taxation, of part of the Community budget. But without increasing global tax pressure. Mr Reynders explained that he notably intends to explore the path of a European tax taken from the new taxes (energy and European company). Over energy taxation, he announced his intention to continue works lead by the Swedish Presidency, by linking the examination of this dossier with the opening of the energy markets. Among the priorities in terms of direct taxation there is also an agreement on the parts of the fiscal package. Mr Reynders did not dismiss the possibility of concluding an agreement with less than fifteen Member States. Why not, he said, by resorting to "enhanced cooperation".
The creation of an integrated market for financial services is the last major axis of the priorities of the Belgian Presidency with the success of the transition to the Euro and the in-depth coordination of the economic policies. The aim of the future Presidency is to "overcome the critical level" in the implementation of the action plan on financial services, which must lead to the creation of an integrated European market for financial services, no later than in 2005. This will notably concern progressing in the examination of draft Directives on the prospectus and on initiated operations and market manipulations, and the draft regulation relating to the enforcement of international accountancy standards. These various proposals could be "federated around the idea of the establishment of a true European company statute", he felt.