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Europaudvalget 2004-05 (2. samling), Finansudvalget 2004-05 (2. samling), Det Politisk-Økonomiske Udvalg 2004-05 (2. samling)
2666 - økofin Bilag 4, FIU Alm.del Bilag 105, PØU Alm.del Bilag 71
Offentligt

Medlemmerne af Folketingets Europaudvalg

og deres stedfortrædere

Bilag

Journalnummer

400.C.2-0

Kontor

EUK

22. juni 2005

Til underretning for Folketingets Europaudvalg vedlægges Finansministeriets

redegørelse for rådsmøde (ECOFIN) den 7. juni 2005.

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21. juni 20

12 CHM

Referat af rådsmødet (ECOFIN) den 7. juni 2005

Dagsordenspunkt:

Forberedelse af Det Europæiske Råd den 16.-

17. juni 2005 – De overordnede økonomisk-

politiske retningslinjer (BEPG)

På grundlag af Kommissionens henstilling og bidragene fra de øvrige berørte råds-

formationer vedtog Rådet sit udkast til rapport om de overordnede økonomisk-

politiske retningslinjer. De overordnede økonomisk-politiske retningslinjer udgør

sammen med retningslinjerne for medlemslandenes beskæftigelsespolitikker de in-

tegrerede retningslinjer for perioden 2005-2008.

Udkastet til Rådets rapport vil blive fremsendt til Det Europæiske Råd den 16.-17.

juni 2005 og ventes herefter endeligt vedtaget af Rådet (ECOFIN).

Dagsordenspunkt:

Stabilitets- og Vækstpagten – Ophævelse af

proceduren for uforholdsmæssigt store under-

skud vedrørende Nederlandene

Rådet traf beslutning, jf. Traktatens artikel 104.12, om at ophæve Rådet (ECO-

FIN)’s afgørelse af 2. juni 2004, jf. Traktatens artikel 104.6, om eksistensen af et

uforholdsmæssigt stort underskud i Nederlandene. Rådet konstaterer, at Nederlan-

dene har korrigeret sit uforholdsmæssige store underskud i overensstemmelse med

Rådets henstilling af 2. juni 2005, jf. Traktatens artikel 104.7, om at bringe situatio-

nen med et uforholdsmæssigt stort underskud til ophør senest i 2005.

Dagsordenspunkt:

Euromønter

Rådet vedtog tre konklusionstekster (vedlagt) vedrørende euromønter, herunder 1)

verifikation af euromønters ægthed og behandling af euromønter, der er uegnede til

cirkulation, 2) retningslinjer for den nationale side på euromønter samt 3) ændring

af fælles side på euromønter.

Dagsordenspunkt:

Statistik – Europæisk strategi for ledelse og ansvar

vedrørende statistik for offentlige finanser

Rådet vedtog i opfølgning af rådsmødet (ECOFIN) den 17. februar 2005 rådskon-

klusioner (vedlagt), der i store træk hilser Kommissionens forslag til ændring af

forordning (EF) nr. 3605/93 for så vidt angår kvaliteten af den statistiske data til

brug ved proceduren for uforholdsmæssigt store underskud velkommen. Ændrin-

gerne inkluderer primært overvågning af datakvalitet i form af kontrolbesøg, skabel-

sen af et retligt grundlag for indsamling og rapportering af data samt mere transpa-

rens og ansvarlighed i rapporteringsprocessen både nationalt og i Kommissionen.

Konklusionerne understreger bl.a., at kontrolbesøgene skal begrænses til det rent

statistiske område og de nationale myndigheder, der er ansvarlige for indberetnin-

gen i forbindelse med proceduren for uforholdsmæssigt store underskud. Desuden

pointeres vigtigheden af Eurostats arbejde med at reducere kravene til mængden af

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data på områder, hvor det er muligt at frigøre ressourcer til kvalitetssikring mv.

således, at statistikkontorernes muligheder for at efterleve de høje statistiske krav

øges. Rådet hilser desuden en adfærdskodeks for europæisk statistik velkommen,

under forudsætning af yderligere præcisering af praktiske detaljer. Endelig anerken-

des behovet for at overveje oprettelsen af et rådgivende organ på højt niveau med

beføjelse til at fremme uafhængighed, integritet og ansvarlighed i Eurostat og det

europæiske statistiske system.

Dagsordenspunkt:

Finansiering af ulandsbistand

Formandskabet og UK præsenterede et fælles papir med et forslag til en samlet

bruttopakke af initiativer til finansiering af ulandsbistand. Hensigten med pakken er,

at det kan udgøre en fælles EU-position for finansiering af ulandsbistand til det

forestående FN-topmøde i september, hvor stats- og regeringschefer skal gøre sta-

tus over opfyldelsen af 2015-målene.

Der var blandt ministrene enighed om flere af bruttopakkens elementer, herunder

et nyt midvejsmål for EU’s samlede bistandsniveau på 0,56 pct. af BNI i 2010, hø-

jere bistandseffektivitet og fremme af den internationale handel. Der var blandt

medlemslandene overvejende skepsis mod forslaget vedr. afgifter på flybilletter.

Flere lande påpegede vigtigheden af, at afgiften skulle være frivillig. Tre grader af

frivillighed blev drøftet i forbindelse med indførelse af billetafgiften, herunder frivil-

lighed for medlemslandene, flyselskaberne og passagererne at hhv. indføre, opkræve

og betale afgiften. Kommissionen blev bedt om at udarbejde en rapport vedrørende

de administrative, tekniske samt økonomiske aspekter af eventuelle flybilletafgifter.

Den Finansielle og Økonomiske Komité (EFC) ventes at behandle sagen, herunder

primært de tekniske aspekter af forslagene vedrørende afgifter på flybilletter.

Der blev lagt op til, at ikke alle medlemslande behøver at deltage aktivt i alle pak-

kens elementer.

Dagsordenspunkt:

Finansielle tjenesteydelser – 3. hvidvaskdirektiv

Rådet vedtog uden drøftelse direktiv om forebyggende foranstaltninger mod an-

vendelse af det finansielle system til hvidvask af penge samt terrorfinansiering (3.

hvidvaskdirektiv).

Dagsordenspunkt:

Skat – Rentebeskatningsdirektivet

På baggrund af Kommissionens bekræftelse af, at betingelserne for rentebeskat-

ningsdirektivets ikrafttræden er opfyldt, vedtog Rådet konklusioner (vedlagt), der

bekræfter, at rentebeskatningsaftalerne med de fem tredjelande og de ti tilknyttede

områder kan træde i kraft med virkning fra den 1. juli 2005 med fortolkningen af

artikel 6 stk. 6 som vedtaget på rådsmødet (ECOFIN) den 12. april 2005.

Dagsordenspunkt:

Skat – Nedsat moms

Formandskabet præsenterede sit løsningsforslag, hvori der gennemføres visse udvi-

delser af landenes muligheder for at anvende nedsatte momssatser, primært på visse

arbejdskraftintensive ydelser og restaurantydelser.

En række lande var principielt imod udvidelse af anvendelsesområdet i EU for ned-

sat moms på varer og tjenesteydelser og fandt i lighed med Kommissionen, at et

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kriterium for anvendelsesområdet for nedsat moms kan være virkninger på det in-

dre marked. Der var således ikke enighed om formandskabets løsningsforslag, og

nedsat moms ventes behandlet igen under UK’s kommende formandskab. Der var

heller ikke enighed om en særskilt ordning med nedsat moms for restaurationer i

Frankrig.

Dagsordenspunkt:

Skat – Rente/royaltydirektivet

Der kunne ikke opnås politisk enighed om ændring af rente/royaltydirektivet. Bel-

gien kunne - som det eneste land - ikke acceptere formandskabets ændringsforslag,

hvor et EU-land kan kildebeskatte renter og royalties, hvis det modtagende selskab

er fritaget for beskatning af de pågældende renter og royalties i det land, hvor sel-

skabet er hjemhørende.

A-punkter

Rådet vedtog uden drøftelse rådskonklusioner (vedlagt) vedrørende adfærdsko-

deksgruppens rapport. Rådet vedtog desuden ændringer til 4. og 7. selskabsdirektiv,

som er et led i handlingsplanen om en modernisering af selskabsretten og en for-

bedret selskabsledelse i EU.

Diverse

De finansielle perspektiver for perioden 2007-2013 blev ikke drøftet.

På frokosten drøftede man domstolens praksis på det skattepolitiske område, og

der var enighed om at nedsætte en uformel gruppe på højt niveau til drøftelse heraf.

Endelig drøftede man kort Den Europæiske Investeringsbank (EIB’s) aktivitet i

Folkerepublikken Kina, herunder et lufthavnsprojekt i Beijing. Der var blandt mini-

strene enighed om støtte til et sådant projekt.

Rådskonklusioner vedrørende verifikation af euromønters ægthed og be-

handling af euromønter, der er uegnede til cirkulation

“It is important for the public that euro coins in circulation are genuine and fit. In

this context, the Council welcomes the Commission Recommendation concerning

authentication of euro coins and handling of euro coins unfit for circulation.

The recommended procedures for the proper functioning of the relevant coin pro-

cessing equipment are designed to ensure that the appropriate quantities of euro

coins are authentic and that

counterfeits as well as unfit euro coins and other euro coin-like objects are re-

moved. The implementation of this procedure will contribute to the correct imple-

mentation of the relevant Community legislation.

Euro coins unfit for circulation may be submitted to euro area Member States by

companies or individuals and should be reimbursed irrespective of national side, in

line with the provisions of the Recommendation. Uniform handling fees should, in

principle, be imposed for these submissions. However, small quantities of unfit

euro coins should not be subject to fees, while Member States may also exempt

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companies which assist the authorities in withdrawing from circulation unfit coins.

Reimbursement should be conditional upon appropriate packaging, while tests are

recommended to check for the quantity, authenticity and visual appearance of the

submissions.”

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Rådskonklusioner vedrørende ændring af den nationale side af euromønter

“1. The Council welcomes the common guidelines for the national sides which the

Commission adopted in its Recommendation of 3 June 2005 and which have been

prepared in close cooperation with Member States.

2. In particular, the Council agrees on the following elements:

•

Since euro coins circulate throughout the euro area, Member States should put a

clear indication of the issuing Member State on the national side by means of the

Member State’s name or an abbreviation of it.

•

Member States should refrain from repeating the denomination of the coin, or

any parts thereof, or the currency name or its subdivision, on the national side, un-

less a different alphabet is used. The edge lettering of the 2-euro coins can bear an

indication of the denomination, provided that only the figure “2” and/or the term

“euro” are used.

•

Member States should inform each other on the design of new national sides,

including the edge letterings, before they formally approve these designs. To this

effect, new designs should be forwarded to the Commission which will without

delay inform the other Member States as appropriate.

These rules should apply to all future national sides and edge letterings of both

normal and commemorative euro circulation coins issued after the adoption of

these conclusions. No changes are required to existing national sides.”

Rådskonklusioner vedrørende ændring af den fælles side af euromønter

“The common side of the bi-colour coins (1- and 2-euro) and the “Nordic gold”

coins (10-, 20- and 50-cent) currently represents the European Union before it was

enlarged from 15 to 25 Member States in May 2004.

On the basis of new designs submitted by the Commission, the Council has there-

fore decided that the necessary technical preparations for the amendment of the

common side of these coins should be completed so as to ensure that all EU Mem-

ber States will in the future be represented. The

common side of the smallest denomination coins (1-, 2- and 5-cent) represent Eu-

rope in the world and are not affected by the enlargement of the European Union.

By taking this decision on a timely basis, the Council wants to make certain that

countries adopting the euro in the future, and possibly already as from 2007, will be

able to mint coins with the new common side. The existing euro-area Member

States will also change over to the new common side once they have completed all

technical preparations.

The new common side will only be used for future coin production. All euro coins

already in circulation remain perfectly valid and will not be replaced.”

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Rådskonklusioner vedrørende statistik

“The Ecofin Council of 2 June 2004 concluded that there is a need “to develop

minimum European standards for the institutional set-up of statistical authorities”

and “to review priorities of the statistics and to reduce (legal) requirements for areas

which are now considered to be of less importance.” The Ecofin Council expected

proposals on these issues by June 2005.

In its Communication “Towards a European Governance Strategy for Fiscal Statis-

tics” of 22 December 2004, the Commission proposed three lines of action: build-

ing up the legislative framework; improving the operational capacities of the rele-

vant Commission services; and establishing European-wide standards on the inde-

pendence, integrity and accountability of national statistical institutes. The Ecofin

Council of 17 February 2005 welcomed the Communication and emphasised a set

of principles that should guide future work on improving statistical governance.

The Council underlined that “the core issue remains to ensure adequate practices,

resources and capabilities to produce high-quality statistics at the national level. It is

the responsibility of Member States to ensure that their national statistical offices

have sufficient resources to function effectively.” Furthermore, the Ecofin empha-

sised that the “independence of Eurostat for the fulfilment of its mission should be

enhanced and formally established to clarify the internal statistical governance of

the relevant Commission services.” The Ecofin report on improving the implemen-

tation of the Stability and Growth Pact, which was endorsed by the European

Council on 23 March 2005, reinforced this need to develop statistical governance.

On 2 March 2005, the Commission adopted a proposal for a Council Regulation

amending Regulation (EC) No 3605/93 as regards the quality of statistical data in

the context of the excessive deficit procedure. The Commission adopted on 25 May

2005 a Communication to the European Parliament and to the Council spelling out

its ideas on improving the governance of Eurostat and the European statistical sys-

tem as well as principles for the setting of statistical priorities. Furthermore, the

Commission issued a Recommendation on the independence, integrity and ac-

countability of the national and Community statistical authorities.

The Ecofin Council broadly welcomes the suggested course of action as well as

most of the proposed elements, and would like to emphasise the following:



With a view to the discussions in the Council Working Group Statistics (STA-

TIS) and in the EFC sub-Committee on Statistics, the Commission has now al-

so put forward more details on the envisaged implementation of the in-depth

Accord ing to the Ecofin rep ort from 20 March 2005: ‘‘The core issu e rem ains to ensu re

ad equ ate p ractices, resou rces and cap abilities to p rod u ce high -qu ality statistics at the

national and Eu rop ean level w ith a view to ensu ring the ind ep end ence, integrit y and

accou ntability of both national statistical offices and Eu rostat. Fu rtherm ore, the focu s

m u st be on d evelop ing the op erational cap acity, m onitoring p ow er, ind ep end ence and

accou ntability of Eu rostat.’’

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visits. Based on this, these visits should more appropriately be called “method-

ological visits”. Legal clarification on the visits conducted by Eurostat in terms

of new obligations for the Member States is needed to enable them to endorse

the envisaged regulation. The conduct of these possible methodological visits

will be based on close co-ordination amongst all the relevant fora involved, in

particular the EFC. In this context, it is important to ensure that the possible

methodological visits should not go beyond the purely statistical domain,

which should be reflected in the composition of the delegations. The assess-

ment will focus on areas specified in the inventories of Member States such as

the delimitation of the government sector, the classification of government

transactions and liabilities, and the time of recording. Further precisions are

expected in the upcoming Commission document on these visits. The practical

modalities should be discussed with the relevant fora. They will be made public

when the Council regulation is adopted. Furthermore, there is still scope for

further discussion on some aspects such as statistical confidentiality. In this

context, there is the need to strike the right balance between the benefits in

terms of improved statistical quality and the costs in terms of added adminis-

trative burden at the EU and national level. "Dialogue visits" should be the

rule. Methodological visits should only be undertaken in cases where Eurostat

identifies substantial risks or potential problems about the methods, concepts

and classifications applied to the data, which Member States are obliged to re-

port. These visits will be particularly relevant in case of possible upcoming im-

portant decisions, concerning a Member State, that will be taken on the basis

of reported fiscal data. These visits should be confined to the national authori-

ties involved in the excessive deficit procedure reporting. The draft Regulation

should be amended accordingly.



In the event that Eurostat expresses any reservation on the data by Member

States, these reservations should be communicated to the Member States in due

time before the publication of the assessment. This has to be balanced against

the tight schedule for Eurostat which disposes only of a time span of three

weeks to examine the EDP data of 25 Member States. The Council therefore

considers that Eurostat should communicate any possible reservation three

working days (instead of the five working days in the current draft version)

ahead of the publication. Article 16 of the draft regulation should be adjusted

accordingly.

In Articles 10 and 11 of the draft regulation, the consultation of the CMFB is

referred to. The role, areas of competence and functioning of this committee as

well as its interaction with Eurostat including the communication policy of the

eventual Eurostat decisions should be evaluated. The EFC should report on its

findings to the Ecofin Council by the end of 2005.

National Statistical offices’ capacity to meet high statistical standards depends

crucially on the ability to prioritise the burden from EU statistical requirements

on authorities. Priority setting in this respect would also need to be conducive

to a reduced regulatory burden on respondents, simplified legislation and the

freeing up of resources for new statistical developments. The Council therefore

welcomes the on-going work, which Eurostat initiated, to reduce statistical re-

quirements agreed upon prior to the EMU Action Plan. This work will be fur-



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ther facilitated by the principles, put forward by the Commission, to identify

positive and negative priorities. Relevance for EU and EMU-policy making

should be the overarching benchmark for assessing future and existing Europe-

an statistical requirements. Furthermore, benefits and costs should be carefully

balanced and be reflected in the method and implementation details. It is vital

that work on this important area is accelerated. The work should fully take into

account the detailed proposals which the Task Force Improved Priority Setting

in its final report presented to 53

meeting of the SPC in May 2004. The Coun-

cil invites the EFC, with the assistance of Eurostat and the ECB, to provide by

December 2005 an update on progress on a rebalancing of priorities.



The Council welcomes the European Statistics Code of Practice adopted by

the Statistical Programme Committee (SPC) on 24 February 2005 and the

Commission Recommendation, putting forward ideas on how to monitor its

implementation but notes that the practical details still need to be specified fur-

ther. In particular, the Council welcomes the ideas of initiating a gradual ap-

proach over three years of self-assessments and peer review assessments result-

ing in an implementation report by the Commission, as well as the Commis-

sion’s Recommendation promulgating the code of practice. The Recommenda-

tion should call for strong political and institutional support at all levels for the

full implementation.

The Council takes note of the Commission’s intention to consider proposing

the establishment of a high level advisory body with political visibility and pow-

er to enhance the independence, integrity and accountability of Eurostat and of

the European Statistical System. In this context, it is important to discuss fur-

ther the role and power of this body, its scope (Eurostat or the whole European

Statistical System) and its composition as well as its relation to CEIES (Europe-

an Advisory Committee on statistical information in the economic and social

spheres).

The professional independence and credibility of Eurostat stems much from

its competence in statistics and its operational capacity to fulfil the tasks listed

in the Commission Decision 97/281/EC on the role of Eurostat. For the ful-

filment of its permanent professional tasks, Eurostat should have appropri-

ate staff resources.

Finally, the Council considers the above elements as parts of an overall pack-

age to enhance the quality of statistical data in the EU as well as to limit the

administrative and regulatory burden on national statistical authorities. The

Council calls upon all parties involved to follow-up vigorously on their com-

mitments in order to make further progress on all elements of the package and

to adopt soon the remaining legal instruments.”



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Rådskonklusioner vedrørende rentebeskatningsdirektivet

“1. The Council recalled its conclusions of January 2003, June 2003 and June 2004

and itsdecision of 19 July 2004 to change the date of application of the Savings Tax

Directive from 1 January 2005 to 1 July 2005.

2. The Council referred to the conditions provided for in Article 17 paragraph 2 of

the SavingsTax Directive and the corresponding Articles in the respective savings

tax agreements between the Community and 5 European third countries (Andorra,

Liechtenstein, Monaco, San Marino, Switzerland) and between the 25 Member

States and the 10 relevant dependent or associated territories (Guernsey, Isle of

Man, Jersey, Netherlands Antilles, Aruba, Anguilla, British Virgin Islands, Cayman

Islands, Montserrat, Turcs and Caicos Islands) that the Member States and the oth-

er treaty partners shall apply the agreed savings tax measures from 1 July 2005 pro-

vided that all treaty partners apply the same measures (10 relevant territories) or

equivalent measures (5 European third countries) from that same date.

3. The Council took stock of progress as regards the application of the Savings Tax

Directive within the Community on the basis of a report from the Commission

Services (doc. 9556/05 FISC 62). It concluded that all Member States had trans-

posed the Savings Tax Directive into national law and were ready to apply the di-

rective from 1 July 2005, subject to Article 17 Paragraph 2 of the Savings Tax Di-

rective.

4. The Council also took stock of progress as regards the relations with the 5 Euro-

pean third countries and the 10 relevant dependent or associated territories on the

basis of reports from the Commission Services (doc. 9557/05 FISC 63) and the

Council Secretariat (doc. 9558/05 FISC 64). It concluded that all 40 treaty partners

(25 Member States, 5 European third countries, 10 relevant territories) had notified

that they were ready to (provisionally) apply the agreed savings tax measures from 1

July 2005 subject to Article 17 paragraph 2 of the Savings Tax Directive and the

corresponding Articles in the respective savings tax agreements

;

5. In accordance with its conclusions of 12 April 2005, the Council verified the

availability of written implementation guarantees received by the Council Secretariat

(doc. 9536/05 FISC 60 + ADD 1).

6. The Council took note of confirmations under Article 17 Paragraph 2 of the

Savings Tax Directive and the corresponding Articles in the respective savings tax

agreements, by all Member States, by the Netherlands on behalf of the Netherlands

Antilles and Aruba, and by the United Kingdom on behalf of the 5 Caribbean Ter-

ritories, that they shall (provisionally) apply the agreed savings tax measures from 1

July 2005, subject to an information I/A note

by the Council Secretariat that the same confirmations have been received from all

other treaty partners.

7. On that basis the Council invited the other treaty partners (Andorra, Liechten-

stein, Monaco, San Marino, Switzerland, Guernsey, Jersey, Isle of Man) to confirm

on their part under Article 17 Paragraph 2 of the Savings Tax Directive and the

corresponding Articles in the respective savings tax agreements that they shall apply

the agreed savings tax measures from 1 July 2005, subject to an information note by

the Council Secretariat that the same confirmations have been received from all

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treaty partners. To facilitate this process all treaty partners will have access to the

relevant information as electronically stored by the Council Secretariat.

the case of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in relation to the Netherlands An-

tilles and Aruba, the Netherlands notified an internal "Law of the Kingdom" rather

than two bilateral agreements, providing for the agreed savings tax measures to be

applied between these parties from 1 July 2005, subject to Article 17 paragraph 2 of

the Savings Tax Directive and the corresponding articles in the savings tax agree-

ments.

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Rådskonklusioner vedrørende adfærdsgruppens rapport

“The Council



Welcomes the progress achieved by the Code of Conduct Group (Business

Taxation) as set out in its report (doc. 9427/05 FISC 55).



Notes that the Code of Conduct Group has considered the proposed revised or

replacement measures of the measures mentioned in paragraphs 22 to 24 and

the Revenue from Stock Exchange operations measure referred to in para-

graph 25 of doc. 9427/05 FISC 55 against the established criteria of the Code

of Conduct and has found that none of these are harmful within the meaning

of the Code.



Agrees that the proposed revised or replacement measures mentioned in

paragraphs 12, 14, 15 and 17 of doc. 9427/05 FISC 55 are adequate to achieve

rollback of all the harmful features of the measures.

Asks the Group to continue monitoring standstill and the implementation

of rollback and report to the Council before the end of the United Kingdom

Presidency.”

