Strasbourg, 20/06/2007 (Agence Europe) - The Parliament has adopted its opinion at first reading on the proposed decision instituting the Community programme “Fiscalis 2013”, which is designed to facilitate cooperation between the national tax administrations, over the period 2008-2013 (see EUROPE 9194). The MEPs would like to limit involvement in this programme to the 27 Member States, and not open it up to the countries of the European Neighbourhood Programme, as proposed by the Commission.
The MEPs rejected the view of rapporteur Hans-Peter Martin (NI, Austria), who wanted to reduce the budget allocated to the Community programme to fight waste in the public coffers. Remaining faithful to the position of the committee on economic and monetary affairs of the EP, they agreed to the financial increase recommended by the Commission. The budget of Fiscalis 2013 will, therefore, be in the region of
157 million EUR.
In the plenary, two joint amendments by the PES and EPP-ED group were adopted. They relate to: the definition of the notion of “multilateral control” of taxes due by one or more taxpayers, taking the view that this type of action should be optional for the EP; the exclusive participation of national civil servants in the action programme. Other amendments relate to the increase in transparency of actions carried out within the framework of Fiscalis 2013, by data publication, amongst other things. According to a Parliamentary source close to the dossier, these amendments are likely to satisfy the Council. An agreement on this dossier at first reading is possible. (mb)