Dublin, 08/01/2004 (Agence Europe) - In the field of economic and financial affairs (Ecofin), the Irish EU Presidency will above all focus on five concerns, it was explained on Wednesday by Finance Minister Charlie McCreevy, speaking to a group of European journalists in Dublin. These concerns are:
1) Preparation of basic Ecofin Council documents for the European Council in March (Lisbon process).
2) Examination of updated stability and convergence programmes for the fifteen Member States and adoption of Council opinions on these programmes during the first three Ecofin Councils of the year.
3) Integration of the ten new Member States in the process of coordinating EU economic policies. As far as multilateral surveillance is concerned, the new countries will be invited to present their tax notifications by 1 March and convergence programmes by 1 May next. A number of these programmes could be examined under Irish Presidency.
4) Progress in Community legislation in several fields, mainly financial services and taxation. As far as financial services are concerned, the Presidency considers that the finalisation of the Financial Services Action Plan is a "vital element" for successfully concluding the Lisbon process, Mr McCreevy said. On this matter, the Presidency also depends on the European Parliament, which is invited to complete its legislative work on financial services before it is dissolved, i.e. by end April. In the field of taxation, the Presidency will above all continue with its task with a view to reaching satisfactory arrangements with certain third countries on the taxation of savings income, the minister said.
5) Progress in the implementation of the growth initiative launched under Italian presidency.
In addition to this somewhat technical agenda, the Presidency is expected to tackle issues of greater political importance, such as the preparation of the next financial perspectives for the post-2006 period. At the end of January, the Commission will present its communication on the broad lines of the next multiannual budget for the enlarged EU, but, Mr McCreevy said, it will probably not be under Irish Presidency that the Member States will hold a substantial debate on this issue. He said the Presidency would only discuss what procedure to follow but that he did not expect indepth discussion on the substance of the issue, either this term or even under Dutch Presidency during the second half of the year. Answering questions on the "Letter of the Six" (net contributors, calling for a ceiling of 1% of Community GDP on EU spending), Mr McCreevy was very relaxed. These are the usual stances taken before the beginning of a long and major financial negotiation, he said, expecting that similar joint initiatives will be taken on the part of net beneficiaries of European funds.
Another burning issue confronting the Irish Presidency is that of the Stability Pact after the tension between member countries after the suspension, last November, of the excessive deficit sanction mechanisms against France and Germany. According to the Irish Presidency, the large majority of Member States now hope there will be a phase for reflection and "cooling down", and there will therefore not be room for discussion during coming months on the possible changes to be made to the Pact, Mr McCreevy said. During the months preceding the European Council in March 2003, Ireland was among the countries which had hoped certain changes would be made to the Pact but, at the time, these proposals had not received sufficient backing, he recalled. Today, as the country holding the Presidency, Ireland will of course comply with the wish expressed by a majority of Member States which do not wish to reactivate this debate at this critical time, the minister said. The Commission, he pointed out, seems to have the intention of preparing a new document and of presenting, "in coming months", new suggestions on reform of certain aspects of the Pact, and nothing prevents these suggestions from being submitted to the Council, but there will not be a more detailed debate as it is not obviously the wish of most member countries, Mr McCreevy said. Furthermore, the prospect of seeing the European Commission take action before the European Court of Justice against the Ecofin Council's decision of 25 November (concerning the German and France cases) does not seem to cause excessive concern for the new president of the Ecofin Council. The Commission, as guardian of the Treaty, is now fully authorised to take the measures that it considers necessary, even if the Ecofin Council considers its own decision on the French and German matter was conform to the rules and procedures of the Pact and therefore perfectly legal, Mr McCreevy explained.
On the subject of IGC, the Finance Minister stressed that the "red line" drawn by the Irish government regarding the rule of unanimity for tax issues still remains intact (and identical to that of the United Kingdom), independently of the fact that Ireland holds EU Presidency.