GENERAL NEWS / (eu) eu/ecofin council/taxation

Talks on reduced VAT rates make little or no headway - Political agreement on minimum normal VAT rate of 15%

Luxembourg, 07/06/2005 (Agence Europe) - On 7 June, the Ecofin Council failed to reach agreement on the Luxembourg Presidency's compromise on reduced rates of value added tax (VAT). For the time being, the ministers are going no further than a political agreement on extending the minimum normal VAT rate until 2010. On this point, the Commission had already made a similar proposal, whilst the Luxembourg Presidency's compromise provided for this minimum rate of 15% to be extended until 31...