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Europaudvalget 2002-03
EUU Alm.del Bilag 104
Offentligt

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Europaudvalget

(Alm. del - bilag 104)

rådsmødereferater

(Offentligt)

_____________________________________________

SAU, Alm. del - bilag 54 (Løbenr. 1947)

Medlemmerne af Folketingets Europaudvalg

og deres stedfortrædere

Bilag

Journalnummer

400.C.2-0

Kontor

EU-sekr.

15. oktober 2002

Til underretning for Folketingets Europaudvalg vedlægges Finansministeriets redegørelse for rådsmøde

(økonomi- og finansministre) den 8. oktober 2002.

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9. oktober 2002

12 NHB

Referat af rådsmødet (ECOFIN) den 8. oktober 2002

Dagsordenspunkt 1: Skattespørgsmål

Rentebeskatning

Der var på grundlag af en redegørelse fra Kommissionen en drøftelse af forhandlingssituationen med 3.-lande, herunder

Schweiz, vedrørende rentebeskatning. Der var enighed om fortsat at opretholde presset på Schweiz for at opnå et resultat,

der indebærer en solid og meningsfuld udveksling af information, i overensstemmelse med mandatet fra Det Europæiske Råd

i Feira.

Energibeskatning

Der var med udgangspunkt i formandskabets fremskridtsrapport en drøftelse af udestående punkter i formandskabets

konsoliderede forslag til direktiv om energibeskatning. Der blev på mødet opnået enighed om definitionen af energiintensive

virksomheder. Drøftelserne om de tre øvrige udestående områder vil fortsætte med henblik på at nå målet om vedtagelse af

energibeskatningsdirektivet i 2002.

Dagsordenspunkt 2: Strømlining

Rådet bad EFC og EPC om at fortsætte arbejdet med strømlining af samarbejdsprocesser og præsentere en interimrapport på

næste rådsmøde i november 2002. Drøftelserne vil fortsætte med henblik på vedtagelse af en endelig rapport om strømlining

på rådsmødet i december 2002.

Dagsordenspunkt 3: Evaluering af den europæiske beskæftigelsesstrategi

Rådet endosserede den fælles EPC/EMCO udtalelse om evaluering af den europæiske beskæftigelsesstrategi.

Dagsordenspunkt 4: Budgetmæssige aspekter af udvidelsen

Der var - som opfølgning på rådsmødet (ECOFIN) den 12. juli 2002 - en orienterende drøftelse af budgetmæssige aspekter

af udvidelsen.

Dagsordenspunkt 5: Finansiel stabilitet, overvågning og integration

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Rådet endosserede EFC’s udkast til endelig rapport om finansiel stabilitet, overvågning og integration. Rapporten vil herefter

blive sendt i høring hos markedsdeltagere og Europa-Parlamentet. EFC vil fortsætte arbejdet med henblik på endelig

godkendelse af rapporten til rådsmødet i december 2002.

Dagsordenspunkt 6: Makrofinansiel assistance

Rådet vedtog vedlagte rådskonklusioner om opdatering af Genval-kriterierne for tildeling af makrofinansiel assistance.

Dagsordenspunkt 7: Flyforsikring

Der var en drøftelse af spørgsmålet om eventuel forlængelse af de nationale garantiordninger samt af

medlemslandenes eventuelle tilslutning til en ICAO-ordning. Flere medlemslande udtrykte bekymring over for

Kommissionens udmelding om ikke at ville acceptere forlængelse af de statslige garantiordninger ud over 31.

oktober i år. Det blev understreget, at en forlængelse af nationale ordninger vil skulle ske under hensyntagen til

de normale statsstøtteregler. Drøftelserne vedrørende ICAO-ordningen vil fortsætte med henblik på at

forbedre beslutningsgrundlaget, herunder for så vidt angår finansielle og budgetmæssige aspekter.

Dagsordenspunkt 8: Rusland

Rådet vedtog fælles synspunkter om Rusland, der vil blive sendt til formanden for Rådet (GAEC) som ECOFIN’s bidrag til

EU-Rusland topmødet i København den 11. november 2002.

HIPC trustfonden

Der var på et medlemslands foranledning en drøftelse af muligheden for via midler fra Den Europæiske Udviklingsfond

(EUF) at bidrage til HIPC trustfonden. Kommissionen indvilgede i at undersøge sagen.

A-punkter

Punktet vedrørende ændringsskrivelse nr. 2 til det foreløbige budgetforslag for 2003 blev vedtaget uden debat.

Rådskonklusioner vedrørende makrofinansiel assistance

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"1. The (Ecofin) Council, following discussions that took place in late 2000 concerning the CARDS regulation on

financial assistance for the Western Balkans and in the context of preparations for enlargement, reviewed the provisions

for extending EU macro-financial assistance (MFA) to third countries.

2. The Council considers that the existing decision-making procedures, including the unanimity requirement under

Article 308 of the Treaty, and implementation modalities have shown the ability to react quickly in cases where a strong

political consensus emerged on the urgency. Nevertheless, the procedures are relatively lengthy and normally several

months elapse from the Commission proposal until final disbursement. Enlargement may further lengthen decision-

making given the unanimity requirement. In line with the recent recommendations of the Court of Auditors, the Ecofin

Council believes that the principles, conditions and

implementation modalities for all EU instruments of macro-economic nature need to be streamlined.

3. The Council agrees that a number of practical steps should be taken with a view to improving the efficiency of the

current decision-making process for EU macro-financial assistance. It welcomes the practice now followed by the

Commission services to systematically provide early information on possible upcoming cases, and recommends to

submit more complete information when launching consultations of the EFC on individual cases (in particular covering a

"needs assessment", i.e. a table on financing needs, the residual financing gap and possible burdensharing); the setting of

target dates for decisions; and regular reporting by the

Commission services to the EFC. Those measures should facilitate an earlier granting of consent to individual cases. In

cases which pose specific difficulties, it might also be appropriate to co-ordinate at an early stage the Member States’

position at the IMF. Current consultations on the precise funding operations has proven to be less important and could be

dropped.

4. The Council also reviewed the Genval criteria, the last revision of which dates from 6 April 1995. In order to enhance

transparency and clarify a number of aspects in regard of their implementation, it agrees to update the Genval criteria as

laid out in the Annex. This should

ensure reinforced complementarity with the Bretton Woods Institutions, improved burdensharing and conditionality, and

provide some guidance in regard of the grant element of the assistance.

5. Lastly, the Council is of the view that the latest information provided by the Commission on the EC/Euratom lending

and guarantee capacity for external actions indicates that there is no immediate need to change the parameters of the

Guarantee Fund mechanism. It mandates the EFC to continue to monitor developments closely and review them again in

the first half of 2003.

Annex: Update of the criteria for the Community macrofinancial assistance to third countries

The (Ecofin) Council:

Reviewed the Community’s macro-financial assistance to third countries provided through (Ecofin) Council decisions;

Noted that the Community since 1990 has committed some Euro 5.8 billion of macro-financial assistance to third

countries, mainly the current candidate countries, some other eastern European and Mediterranean countries and the

Western Balkans in the form of untied and undesignated balance of payments assistance, or budget support, taking the

form of medium and long-term loans or grants or a combination thereof;

Agreed that this assistance has in most cases usefully contributed to the implementation of comprehensive

macroeconomic adjustment and structural reform programmes supported by the IMF and the World Bank;

Reconfirmed the following principles to which this assistance shall respond:

1. Exceptional character

The Community, not being an international financial institution, its assistance must remain exceptional in nature and be

discontinued when the recipient country can rely on financing from these institutions and private sources of capital.

2. Political pre-conditions

The assistance is provided to third countries with which the Community maintains close political and economic links,

taking into account especially their geographical proximity and the Union’s economic, commercial and political

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interests. A precondition is that they fully respect effective democratic mechanisms, including multi-party parliamentary

systems, the rule of law and guarantees of human rights.

3. Complementarity

A prerequisite for the mobilisation of this assistance shall be the existence of a significant and commonly identified

residual external financing gap, which is based on a comprehensive and complete quantitative assessment and

transparent background documentation, over and above the resources provided by the IMF and other multilateral

institutions and despite the implementation of strong economic stabilisation and reform programmes. The Community is

providing macrofinancial assistance in co-ordination with bilateral donors. The amounts of the Community assistance

will be decided, case-by-case, taking into account the factors in paragraph 2, the maximum potential amounts available

from the international financial institutions and a fair burdensharing with bilateral donors as well as the level of private

sector involvement. Complementarity will also be sought between macro-financial assistance, the use of other EU

instruments of macro-economic nature, and the use of the Community’s technical assistance and project related

instruments.

4. Conditionality

The assistance will generally be released in successive tranches, the disbursement of each of them being conditional

upon the fulfilment of clear and measurable macroeconomic performance and structural adjustment criteria, based on the

economic programmes of the beneficiary countries, as agreed in upper credit tranche arrangements with the IMF. With a

view of streamlining conditionality, the Community will mostly base its criteria on the recipient country’ s adjustment

and reform programme agreed with the IMF and where appropriate the World Bank. Progress on mutual market opening,

and other priorities in the context of the Community's external policy, should also be taken account of.

5. Financial discipline

The amounts of the assistance shall comply with the annual budget ceilings established by the Community’ s Financial

Perspective, and with the rules and the agreed ceilings of the Guarantee Fund Mechanism for external actions, in

particular the reserve designed to provide for the

provisioning of the Fund, and in the case of grants with the relevant annual budget appropriations.

At least once a year and when submitting a new proposal for macro-financial assistance the Commission will provide

detailed information on the reserve for guarantees (and the corresponding residual lending and loan guarantee capacity),

details on total outstandings and past interventions under the Guarantee Fund mechanism, as well as on the remaining

budget resources available for macro-financial assistance in the form of grants.

The Economic and Financial Committee will examine regularly the use of macro-financial assistance for third countries

taking also into account the situation regarding other Community initiatives. The Commission will provide an annual

report to the Council and to the Parliament on the implementation of macro-financial assistance (which shall include a

systematic evaluation of the effectiveness of conditionality, an assessment of actual burdensharing and private sector

involvement, the implementation of the adjustment programme, and the contribution of macrofinancial assistance to the

implementation of the economic and stabilisation programmes of the beneficiary countries on the basis of transparent

performance indicators). The Commission services are invited to report regularly to the Economic and Financial

Committee on the state of play of macro-financial assistance."

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