Agenda Eurogroep en Ecofin: financiële perspectieven, rapport-Kok, verlagen administratieve lasten, fusies van banken, vennootschapsbelasting
Eurogroup Finance Ministers are due to meet in The Hague at 13h00 on Friday 10th September. The European Union's Economics and Finance Ministers will then meet in the extended Eurogroup format at 15h30. The full informal Ecofin meeting, including the national central banks will start on Saturday 11 September at 9h30. The European Commission will be represented at the meeting by Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Juaquin Almunia, Budget Commissioner Michaele Schreyer, Commissioner Markos Kyprianou and Internal Market and Taxation Commissioner Frits Bolkestein.
Eurogroup (GT)
The Eurogroup will start with a discussion of the Eurogroup working methods where it will follow on its discussions on 5 July. It will then discuss the Commission Communication on strengthening of economic governance and clarifying the implementation of the Stability and Growth Pact (IP/04/1062 - SPEECH/04/387). Ministers will then prepare the forthcoming G7 and IMF meeting in Washington.
Extended Eurogroup
Financial Perspectives (EM)
The central point on the agenda will be the discussion of the Commission's proposals for the expenditure side of the new financial perspective (IP/04/910), as well as a the presentation by Mrs Schreyer of the Commission's proposals for the Own Resources (IP/04/908). These proposals will be part of the negotiations on the new financial perspective, but discussion will start in November.
Wim Kok Report
Mr. Kok will make a presentation about the progress in his group for the Lisbon strategy mid-term review entrusted to him by the European Council.
Informal Meeting of Economics and Finance Ministers
Reducing the Administrative Burden (JT)
On the morning of Saturday 11th, Ministers will consider a Presidency paper on reducing the administrative burden on companies. The paper provides some background on the Dutch experience with national and EU legislation, as well as an estimate of the cost involved for the EU as a whole of these burdens.
Commissioner Bolkestein will welcome the priority that the Presidency has attached to the reduction of administrative burdens and will underline EU legislation's contribution to doing so. He will point out that, for example in the case of financial services, EU regulation has in many instances replaced 25 different sets of domestic regulations with 1 set of rules, and - fortunately - it will continue to do so. At the same time, the European Commission is well aware that it must seek to minimize the regulatory requirements imposed at EU level. It will continue its efforts to limit duplicative reporting obligations for European companies and to encourage Member States to limit implementation differences.
To achieve better regulation, all three institutions have an important role to play. Parliament and Council should more carefully consider the regulatory impacts of their proposed amendments. Finally, the commitment of individual Member States is crucial. Most of the reduction of administrative burdens needs to take place at domestic level, because it's there where the excessive burdens originate and it is there where the competences are to remove them. This concerns almost all regulation in the area of SMEs and the additional reporting requirements introduced by national authorities.
In the tax area he will draw attention of Ministers to the survey that the Commission has just completed (see IP/04/1091) which shows that companies active in more than one Member State have to face higher compliance costs than purely domestic companies and that Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) face significantly higher compliance costs as a percentage of their sales than larger companies. He will express the hope that in the discussion on company taxation (see below) Ministers will send the signal that the EU is serious about developing pragmatic initiatives to reduce such burdens by allowing companies to use a single tax base for their EU-wide economic activities.
In relation to VAT invoicing obligations, an area that the Presidency has identified as one where further simplifications at Community level would reduce compliance costs, he will indicate the Commission's readiness to make a proposal for further simplifications to these rules beyond those changes that came into force in January 2002 (see MEMO/04/15). He will also draw Minister's attention to the fact that the Commission intends to present a proposal in the next few months for a one-stop shop system whereby a trader could fulfil his Value Added Tax (VAT) obligations for his EU-wide activities solely in the Member State in which he is established (see IP/04/654).
Possible obstacles to cross-border mergers and takeovers in the banking sector (JT)
Ministers are due to discuss possible obstacles to cross-border mergers and acquisitions in the banking sector on the basis of a Dutch Presidency background paper.
This will be preceded by presentations by three CEOs of large banks (Rijkman Groenink - ABN AMRO, Michel Pébereau - BNP-Paribas and Sir George Matthewson - Royal Bank of Scotland), who have been invited to explain some of the difficulties they have encountered in trying to merge or take over banks in other Member States. One of their main complaints is likely to be the role supervisory authorities play in defending national banks from being taken over by `foreigners'.
Commissioner Bolkestein will emphasise that a strong healthy banking sector in Europe is crucial to help the EU reach its targets for economic growth and to maintain financial stability. In Europe, a more competitive banking market - in wholesale, but also in retail - will be needed to close the present competitiveness and profitability gap with the US.
In this context, Mr Bolkestein will stress that we need to make sure that the EU's regulatory, supervisory and market structures are and remain most effective - not only in the banking area, but in all financial services areas. With the Financial Services Action Plan delivered, already a lot has been done to increase integration and competitiveness. While the starting point for Europe's financial market was a fragmented market, we are now seeing already a strategic `European reflex' developing - especially in the wholesale markets.
Where prudential regulation unduly hinders financial integration, Mr Bolkestein will indicate that the Commission will of course address this carefully - for the sake of European businesses and consumers. Therefore, the Commission intends to review (with the help of the Banking Regulatory Committee) the parts of the EU's Banking Directive (2000/12/EC) that allow Member States to block mergers and acquisitions.
Mr Bolkestein will conclude that the issue of integration in the EU banking field should be addressed in a broader context and not exclude possible targeted legislative action in response to specific market failures or regulatory gaps. The issue should be addressed in the preparation of the post-FSAP strategy - on which the Commission is presently consulting the market.
Company taxation (JT)
Over lunch, Ministers are due to have a political discussion on company taxation in the EU on the basis of two papers that the Commission has prepared - one on a suggestion for a pilot project that would allow SMEs to use the tax rules of their home state for calculating their EU-wide taxable profits and the other on a more wide-ranging idea of allowing all companies to use a common consolidated set of rules for calculating their EU-wide taxable profits. Both non-papers are available from the Commission's website:
http://europa.eu.int/comm/taxation_customs/taxation/company_tax/developments.htm
The Commission in October 2001 proposed a two-track strategy for removing the tax obstacles that currently prevent companies doing business across borders from benefiting fully from the Internal Market (see IP/01/1468). It presented a review of progress in this field in November 2003 (see IP/03/1593) in which it confirmed its commitment to its 2001 strategy for a series of legislative proposals and initiatives to address specific tax obstacles in the short term, as well as for work on a more wide-ranging long-term solution of allowing companies to use a single company tax base (taxable profits) for all their EU-wide activities. The Commission firmly believes that a single consolidated company tax base is, in the long term, the best way of addressing the problems of double taxation and compliance costs due to the existence of twenty five separate sets of tax rules for computing the taxable base in the Internal Market.