Ecofin zal geplande toetreding Estland tot de eurozone in 2011 steunen (en)

This Tuesday, EU i economic and financial affairs ministers are planning to support Estonia's entry into the euro area as of 1 January 2011, on the grounds of positive reports already published by the European Commission (EC) and the European Central Bank.

On 12 May, the EC published its convergence report, in which it was highlighted that the Baltic country "clearly" complies with the required macroeconomic criteria.

In this document, the Commission also indicated that of the nine EU members aspiring to join the euro (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Sweden), Estonia is the only one to meet these requirements.

To enter the monetary union, candidates are required to have streamlined public finances, price and exchange rate stability, convergence of long-term interest rates and a national legislation on monetary affairs that is totally compatible with the European treaties, especially in relation to national central bank independence.

It is planned that the president-in-turn of the Ecofin i Council, the Spanish Minister of Economy and Finance Elena Salgado, will address a letter to the president of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy i, recommending that leaders authorise the entry of Estonia into the single currency.

The enlargement of the euro area will be discussed at the next summit of European leaders, to be held in Brussels on 17 June, in order to finally receive formal approval from the Council during the Ecofin meeting on 13 July.

Should the process be completed without problems, the euro area will include 17 countries as of 1 January 2011, the date on which Estonia will adopt the euro as its currency.

Furthermore, this Tuesday Ecofin will provide the EC with a mandate to initiate dialogue with Switzerland and Liechtenstein, which would extend the "code of conduct" principles beyond the Union for the first time.

In the meeting to be held in Luxembourg, the 27 members of the EU will approve as "point A" (without debate) the six-monthly report published by the follow-up group on the code of conduct for business taxation, a document that includes the mandate.

The goal is for Switzerland and Liechtenstein to align themselves as much as possible with the taxation practices considered as non-detrimental within the EU, and that they renounce those practices aimed at promoting the relocation of businesses or the artificial movement of companies from one country to another.

The European code of conduct for business taxation was adopted in 1998 to bring the different Member States' systems closer together, thereby avoiding unfair tax competition.

As is habitual, Ecofin will be preceded this Monday by a Eurogroup meeting, chaired by the Prime Minister of Luxembourg, Jean-Claude Juncker i, which will examine the Spanish economic adjustment plan.