Brussels 03/06/2005 (Agence Europe) - EU finance ministers will meet in Luxembourg on 7 June to prepare for, inter alia, the European Council of 16 and 17 June, by adopting a report on the Broad Economic Policy Guidelines (BEPGs). On the preceding evening, the Eurogroup will take stock of the economic situation in the eurozone and will, for the first time at this point in the year, conduct a mid-term budgetary analysis of all member states for 2005. The 25 ministers will then continue their discussions on the improvement of statistical governance and adopt conclusions on this topic. They are then expected to follow the Council's recommendation and close the excessive deficit procedure begun on 2 June 2004 against the Netherlands: the Netherlands' deficit, previously 3.2%, has finally been reduced to 2.3% in the course of the year and prospects for 2005 and 2006 are reassuring (at 2% and 1.6%, says the Commission). Having discussed this at the informal meeting (EUROPE 8948), the Council will adopt conclusions on euro coins: a change to the common faces of euro coins has been mooted, and changes to the national faces have also been proposed. They will also determine how to deal with counterfeit coins. At the end of the afternoon the Presidency will present its final proposal for the financial perspectives 2007-2013 (EUROPE 8960). The development contribution on air tickets, which is preferred to a tax on kerosene, for example (EUROPE 8948), is expected to undergo a technical evaluation. Taxation Commissioner Laszlo Kovacs will report on College deliberations on the feasibility of this form of supplementary development aid finance, which has been criticised by a number of commissioners (EUROPE 8960).
Ministers are expected to give their approval to the proposed third directive on the use of the finance system for money laundering and for the financing of terrorism, and to accept all the amendments voted through on 26 May by the European Parliament (EUROPE 8956). The Council will also try to set out broad guidelines on proposed amendments to directives 78/660/EEC on the annual accounts of certain types of companies and 83/349/EEC on consolidated accounts (EUROPE 8817). The main issue as yet unresolved concerns treatment of SMEs to avoid placing too heavy an administrative burden on them. It is hoped that political agreement may be reached on proposed amendments to directive 2003/49/EC on interests and royalty payments between associated companies of different member states: the amended directive will cover other types of companies such as European Companies and European Cooperative Societies, and will help to avoid double tax exemption. The Council will hold an exchange of views on progress on the proposed presidency compromise on reduced VAT rates (EUROPE 8947): The current system will cease to apply to many highly labour-intensive services on 31 December 2005. The Council will also take stock of progress on the issue of savings taxation, for which measures will enter into force on 1 July 2005 (EUROPE 8926): it is expected to conclude that all member states have transposed directive 2003/48/EC and that five non-EU countries (Andorra, Liechtenstein, Monaco, San Marino and Switzerland) and ten associated territories and dependencies of the United Kingdom and the Netherlands have ratified agreements on equivalent measures.