Brussels, 04/12/2001 (Agence Europe) - The Ecofin Council, chaired by Didier Reynders, finally adopted directives on undertakings for collective investment in transferable securities (UCITS) and buried a political agreement on the directive on VAT invoicing (see yesterday's EUROPE, pp. 11 and 12 for details). The Council encouraged the Commission to extend the insurance system of airline companies but expressed fear about Galileo financing. The main results were:
Pensions: With a view to the Laeken Summit, the Council adopted the report by the Economic Policy Committee EPC) and the Social Protection Committee on working methods in the field of pensions.
Structural indicators: The Council approved a report from the Economic Policy Committee and conclusions giving the list of 13 structural indicators that will allow the analysis of Member States' performances to be improved (GDP per capital, rate of employment according to gender and of elderly workers, spending on research and development, access to the internet, spending on information technologies, price in network industries, corporate investment, capital from stock markets, long-term unemployment, regional cohesion, young people leaving school early, and greenhouse gas emissions.
Tax package: The Council does not reach agreement (see above).
Galileo: The United Kingdom confirms its concern about the financing of the European satellite positioning system and publishes a declaration associating the Netherlands, Austria, Sweden and Denmark. These States confirm their commitment to ensuring that Galileo financing is essentially by private sources and recall that the private sector is asked to be formally and actively involved in the deployment and operational phase of the project. On the basis of the Price Waterhouse Coopers report published last week they note that, given the uncertainty of income, the rate of return will not be sufficient to attract private capital in the development phase of the project or to fully finance the deployment phase. They stress that public funding should be by way of EUR 2 to 3 billion during the development and deployment phases. From now on, these States consider that the questions raised by the report call for indepth examination on the part of the Council, before any decision is taken. Didier Reynders pointed out that he will be informing his counterpart responsible for transport, Isabelle Durant, of the results of the discussion. He called on his colleagues to do the same at national level, before the Transport Council on 7 December that is to give its stance on the launching of the development phase of Galileo. Transport Commissioner Loyola de Palacio confirmed to the press that she is ready to propose that the Commission withdraw its project if an agreement is not reached before the end of the year. In this case, the project may be taken up again in a different form, without Community funding, she said.
Insurance for airline companies: the majority of the Council came down in favour of prolongation until 31 March 2002 the aid scheme enabling Member States to cover risks of "terrorism and war" for their airline companies. Sweden and, to a certain extent, Luxembourg, were against this prolongation, hoping to return to market rules. German Minister Hans Eichel called for greater precision as to the level of premiums and compensations allowed, as well as the sectors eligible (certain States would like to cover airport insurance and other providers of services in the airline sector). The Council Presidency observed that a majority was in favour of the prolongation, for the rules concerning premiums to be spelt out and for the European Commission to continue to monitor the market. The decision is now up to the Commission, which confirmed its intention of prolonging the scheme.
Financial services: the Presidency turned to the ongoing work for the adoption of the directive on the prospectus for floating on the stock market and the directive on financial coglomerates. Mr. Reynders recalled that the goal was to progress on these two proposals at the 13 December EcoFin Council and reach agreement at the Barcelona Summit in March 2002.
Court of Auditors: the Council had an initial examination of the Court's report that should be adopted in March 2002.
Candidate countries: at the end of lunch and the meeting of the EU and candidate countries Economy and Finance ministers, the Council adopted a joint declaration in which it urges the candidate countries to pursue their efforts t reform in view of satisfying the Copenhagen criteria (EUROPE will return).