Brussels, 21/03/2003 (Agence Europe) - The Brussels European Council failed to reach agreement on the "tax package", or, more specifically, on a solution that would have allowed Italy to withdraw its reservations. Before he will agree on the tax package, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has long insisted on being allowed to spread out over thirty years the 648 million euros of debt owed by Italian dairy farmers due to exceeding their quotas between 1995 and 2001. Tired of resisting, fourteen Member States seemed ready to send the dossier on to the Agriculture Council, asking it to look favourably on the request. The Netherlands dug their heels in. This caused Council President George Papandreou to give up the fight. The tax dossier will therefore be sent back to the Ecofin Council.
On Thursday evening, following the Ecofin Council which was preparing the Summit's work, the Taxation Commissioner, Frits Bolkestein, expressed his regrets at the lack of agreement after the Council had "come a long way over the last weeks" towards reaching compromise, which was then blocked by the Italian request. Gerhard Schröder had already expressed his disappointment on Thursday evening at Italy's decision to link two entirely unrelated dossiers.
The Dutch Finance Minister, Hans Hoogervorst, commented to the Press about the Netherlands' position, explaining that there was no question of creating a precedent for Italy that was inexplicable to Dutch farmers. Silvio Berlusconi acknowledged that Italy had "played an unpleasant part", but that "we find it untenable that we are obliged to import 44% of our milk requirements". The Luxembourg Prime Minister, Jean-Claude Juncker, joked that "there was a time when Luxembourg was always being accused of wanting to block progress on the subject", he had to become "an advocate for harmonisation of taxation of savings", during a "robust, virile battle against the hesitancy that emerged today".