Brussels, 07/03/2003 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday, the Ecofin Council reached an agreement, as foreseen, on the creation of a financial services committee. It also concluded a political agreement on the exchange of information on VAT. On the other hand, the Presidency noted that opinions still differ when it comes to the directive on energy tax and it therefore decided to postpone the discussion till its next sitting in order to work, in the meantime, on an agreement on the basis of progress made so far, Council President Nikos Christodoulakis pointed out. Italy is still calling for tax relief for hauliers to be continued at the current rate until 2005 and for the door to be kept open for aid after this date if no global agreement has been found on the subject of taxing diesel fuel used by hauliers. Austria, and to a lesser extent Germany, are opposed to this. Speaking before the press, Austrian Secretary of State for Finance Alfred Finz refused to make a connection between the taxation of energy and the use of Ecopoints (another issue provoking opposition from Italy). Nonetheless, he was quick to add, "if a country wants a compromise, it must take the problems of the others into account". The Presidency felt that "enormous progress has been accomplished over recent years but there are still matters to be resolved. All Member States have, however, acknowledged the fact that an agreement must be reached before the Spring Summit".
The Presidency and Commissioner Frits Bolkestein took stock, over lunch, of the negotiations with Switzerland on savings tax and on Monday's meeting with Swiss Minister-President Kaspar Villiguer. Negotiations are now "in the last lap before a final agreement", Mr Christodoulakis declared. "There are still issues to be discussed, but never in the past have we been as close as this to a final agreement in these negotiations, which have been long and laborious", he insisted. The Fifteen's margin of flexibility is small after unanimous adoption of a compromise in January this year, it is admitted at the Commission. Switzerland, for its part, sets a series of conditions on any agreement: 1) all bilateral negotiations under way must be simultaneously concluded; 2) all threats of sanction must be lifted; 3) there must be no pressure to conclude an agreement on exchange of information according to the OECD model; and 4) it must have the right to impose rates of withholding that are similar to those imposed in the savers' country of residence. Such differences are "common knowledge", the Greek Minister remarked before going on to add: "Some are hoping that taxation will be the last issue to be resolved. In our view, it should, on the contrary, serve as a catalyst for also reaching agreement on the other dossiers".
The President of the Council Nikos Christodoulakis, declared at the end of the meeting that there were very few problems that remained to be resolved in regard to savings taxation. The main issue focused on the application of the "parent/subsidiary" and "interest/dividend" directives by the Swiss. He indicated that energy taxation had not been tackled and considered that the Italian blocking could not be spoken about because of but rather the reservations linked to the phasing out of certain provisions