Berlin, 12/01/2007 (Agence Europe) - Commenting on Thursday on the main issues to be tackled during the German Presidency of the ECOFIN Council (see EUROPE 9337), German finance minister Peer Steinbruck said he hoped the German Presidency would manage to make progress on tax issues but said it was best not to raise hopes too high. The consolidated common tax basis for companies and the VAT package are the main areas the German finance minister will be focussing on. Steinbruck will be defending the German position, arguing for a VAT reverse charge mechanism to be introduced. He said that if agreement was reached on the reverse charge mechanism, there would be no need to veto adoption of the VAT package. As far as Steinbruck is concerned, the two are closely linked. During the visit to Berlin two days earlier of EU Taxation Commissioner Laszlo Kovacs, the two men agreed to find out how many other Member States might be interested in the introduction of the reverse charge mechanism, Steinbruck explained. Seeking to allay the fears of certain Member States, he added that when it comes to company taxation, some countries still think that Germany wanted harmonisation, but it was actually a question of agreeing on a common tax base because there would always be differences in levels of taxation. Steinbruck pointed out that any financial crisis in the future was likely to involve hedge funds and called for the funds to be cooperative about increasing the transparency of the hedge system. Steinbruck said that he was aiming at a type of long-term code of conduct for hedge funds rather than regulations, recognising reluctance in the English-speaking world to contemplate legislation in this area. (ab)