The EU's Council of Economic and Finance (ECOFIN) Ministers will take place in Brussels on Tuesday 8 July. The European Commission will be represented by Siim Kallas, Vice President in charge of Economic and Monetary Affairs and the Euro, Michel Barnier, Vice President in charge of Internal Market and Services and Algirdas Šemeta Commissioner for Taxation, Customs, Audit, Anti-Fraud and Statistics. The Council will discuss the priorities of the Italian Presidency of the Council in the field of economic and financial affairs for the second half of 2014.
The Commission will welcome the Italian Presidency's determination to make progress or reach agreement on key tax files. These include agreement on widening automatic exchange of information for tax purposes within the EU (Administrative Cooperation Directive), agreement on the Financial Transaction Tax under enhanced cooperation, agreement on the Standard VAT Return and pushing forward the political debate on the Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base. The Italian Presidency will also seek progress on other important tax files.
Commissioner Šemeta will report progress to the Council on the negotiations with Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Andorra and San Marino on the revision of agreements signed with these countries on taxation of savings. The aim of such negotiations is to ensure that these five countries apply measures equivalent to those foreseen in the revised Savings Directive adopted by the Council in March, taking into account relevant international developments in the field of exchange of information for tax purposes. The successful conclusion of these negotiations is one of the key actions of the Commission's plan to fight tax fraud and evasion
Bron: European Commission
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