Brussels, 23/01/2006 (Agence Europe) - "I have the impression that we may be able to reach a broad agreement " at Tuesday's Ecofin Council, on the dossier on reduced rate of VAT, Council President Karl-Heinz Grasser told the economic and monetary committee of the EP on Monday. Certain Member States have agreed to keep the status quo, but are refusing to include new services in the exceptional list of highly labour-intensive services which are entitled to reduced rates, he said. He explained that the compromise proposal of the Austrian Presidency was put together "on the basis of egalitarianism", after intense discussions with the Member States and the Commission, and corresponds to the position of the Parliament (EUROPE 9114). Certain of the new Member States, which apply reduced rates of VAT, such as Poland and the Czech Republic, voiced their opposition to this proposal on Monday, which would not put them on an equal footing with the old Member States. "Above all, the proposal does not respect the principle of equal treatment between the States and increases the differences between the old States and the new", said Bohuslav Sobotka, the Czech Finance Minister, who threatened to use the veto at the Ecofin Council, according to Reuters.