Brussels, 18/10/2004 (Agence Europe) - The Finance Ministers of the EU will meet in Luxembourg on Thursday for an Ecofin Council dominated by recent Eurostat notifications on the budgets of the Member States (see EUROPE of 24 September, p.9). This subject will also be the main item on the agenda of Eurogroup, the day before. The ministers of the 25 will also tackle the question of the financial perspectives and reducing the administrative burden on businesses, and will discuss measures taken by the Netherlands to resolve the excessive deficit situation. During the lunch, the President of the World Bank, James D. Wolfensohn, will present the millennium objectives.
Budgetary notifications. Any alterations, as such, to the Stability and Growth Pact will not be on the agenda of this meeting, but when they discuss the reliability of budgetary statistics, the Member States will hold an exchange of views on the preventive arm. In Scheveningen, the ministers called upon the Commission to put together a proposal to establish European minimum standards, by June 2005. On the day before, the euro zone ministers will already have had the opportunity to discuss the latest budgetary developments.
Stability and growth pact. The only individual case discussed as part of the SGP procedure will be the Netherlands, which is to present the corrective measures to come in line with the 3% of GDP threshold in 2005. In line with the excessive deficit proceedings launched last June (EUROPE of 3 June, p.9), the Netherlands must reduce their deficit by at least half a percentage point, using essentially structural measures.
Burden on enterprise: The Commission is to present its progress towards a common way of measuring the bureaucratic burden of European legislation on businesses. In Scheveningen, the Presidency presented a document illustrating the advantages of this kind of approach, which the Netherlands have already started to experiment with at national level.
Financial perspectives 2007-2013. Preliminary discussions are planned, on the Commission's proposals on budgetary flexibility.
Fraud: the Commission will present a verbal report on protection of the EU's financial interests.