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Europaudvalget 2006-07, Finansudvalget 2006-07
2759 - Økofin Bilag 6, FIU Alm.del Bilag 39
Offentligt

13. november 2006

Referat fra EU finans- og økonomiministermøde (ECOFIN) den 7.

november 2006

Dagsordenspunkt:

Revisionsrettens årsrapport 2005

Revisionsretten præsenterede sin årsberetning for 2005. Rådet tog præsentationen

til efterretning. Rådet så frem til en drøftelse af Revisionsrettens DAS

metodologi og til at fortsætte behandlingen af Kommissionens handlingsplan for

bedre intern kontrol.

Danmark fremførte, at det er utilfredsstillende, at Revisionsretten forsat må afgive

en revisionserklæring med væsentlige forbehold for gennemførelsen af EU’s

budget. Man opfordrede bl.a. Revisionsretten til at offentliggøre fejlprocenter for

betalingerne samt til at revisionserklæringen prioriterede problemernes art,

omfang og konsekvenser. Fra dansk side støttede man endvidere, at Rådet skal

arbejde tæt samarbejde med Kommissionen og Revisionsretten for at sikre en

bedre budgetgennemførelse.

Dagsordenspunkt:

Statistik – statusrapport 2006

Rådet vedtog konklusioner om Den Økonomiske og Finansielle Komités (EFC)

statusrapport om informationskravene i ØMU’en,

jf. vedlagte bilag.

Dagsordenspunkt:

Holdbarheden af de offentlige finanser

Rådet behandlede Kommissionens rapport om holdbarheden af de offentlige

finanser. Der blev vedtaget rådskonklusioner, der bl.a. fastslår, at de årlige

holdbarhedsvurderinger af stabilitets- og konvergensprogrammerne skal baseres

på rapporten og dens fremtidige opdateringer samt relevant information fra

landene, samt at der skal arbejdes videre på metoder til at indregne aldringens

effekter på også de offentlige indtægter,

jf. vedlagte bilag.

Dagsordenspunkt:

Alkoholbeskatning

Rådet havde en drøftelse af Kommissionens forslag om at inflationsregulere

minimumssatserne for punktafgifter på alkohol og alkoholholdige drikkevarer. Et

flertal af medlemslande støttede Kommissionens forslag. Enkelte medlemslande

var imidlertid skeptiske over for forslaget, herunder forhøjelsen af minimums-

satsen for øl.

Det finske formandskab fremlagde et alternativt forslag, der ikke kunne opnås

enighed om. Sagen ventes behandlet igen på ECOFIN den 28. november 2006.

Déclaration d’assurance (revisionserklæring)

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Dagsordenspunkt:

Rejsegodsdirektivet

Rådet drøftede med udgangspunkt i Kommissionens forslag om en modernisering

af de eksisterende ordninger for rejsendes indførsel af varer fra tredjelande til EU

det finske formandskabs kompromisforslag.

Der var generel opbakning til formandskabets kompromisforslag, men et enkelt

medlemsland ønskede dog en højere beløbsgrænse. Sagen ventes drøftet igen på

ECOFIN den 28. november 2006.

Eventuelt:

Fransk forslag om nedsat moms på elektroniske

aviser

Frankrig redegjorde for et forslag om at introducere muligheden for at kunne

anvende nedsat moms på elektroniske aviser på linie med de trykte aviser. Rådet

noterede sig det franske indlæg.

Diverse:

I margin af mødet blev ministrene præsenteret for indholdet i Kommissionens

efterårsprognose og blev af eurogruppens formand kort orienteret om

drøftelserne under eurogruppens møde den 6. november 2006. Derudover

præsenterede direktøren for Den Internationale Valutafond (IMF), Rodrigo Rato,

ministrene for sine overvejelser om den videre proces for justeringen af

medlemslandenes kvote- og stemmefordeling i IMF.

Ministrene havde endvidere en dialog med EFTA-landene (Island, Liechtenstein,

Norge og Schweiz) med særlig fokus på energipolitiske emner.

Under frokosten fulgte ministrene op på drøftelsen af EIB’s eksterne lånemandat

for perioden 2007-2013, senest behandlet på ECOFIN den 10. oktober 2006.

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Bilag

Rådskonklusioner om statistik

“The Council endorses the 2006 EFC Status Report on Information

Requirements in EMU, and in particular:

– WELCOMES progress made on the availability and quality of Principal

European Economic Indicators (PEEIs) which enables a more timely and

reliable assessment of the euro area and the EU economy;

– Recognising the positive developments and enhanced efforts by the

National Statistical Institutes, CALLS FOR further improvements in areas

where the implementation of PEEI targets, particularly related to

timeliness and other quality features, has not yet been completed in the

light of the original deadline of end 2005; and NOTES that progress

should be achieved especially in the area of services and labour market

statistics in the context of the objective of an overall reduction in the

administrative burden;

– WELCOMES the promising findings on best national practices for

producing high quality PEEIs to enable further improvements in

timeliness, coverage, consistency and other quality features of statistics

both at European and national level; and INVITES Member States to

undertake concrete steps to implement earlier estimates benefiting from

other Member States' experience; and

– WELCOMES the improvements and timeline required for the PEEIs and

CALLS FOR a closer coordination of national statistics on processes as

identified in the ECOFIN conclusions of 8 November 2005 and as

specified further in the recommendations of the 2006 EFC Status Report;

– INVITES Eurostat and the ECB to review progress achieved as well as on

the main outstanding issues concerning the implementation of the EMU

Action Plan by Autumn 2007, and the EFC to prepare a new Status

Report in 2007; and NOTES that high quality statistics are needed for

structural analyses of economic policy and progress in this area should

also be reviewed in 2007.

The Council furthermore:

– NOTES that ways should be considered to ensure a coherent approach as

regards the public communication of major statistical revisions in Member

States and, to this end, INVITES the Committee for Monetary, Financial

and Balance of Payments statistics (CMFB), by mid-2007, to examine this

issue and put forward a proposal;

– NOTES that important progress has been made during the past year by

Eurostat in providing advice to Member States on planned transactions;

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and WELCOMES the recent guidelines for exante advice by Eurostat, as

well as the fact that timetables for consultation are being clarified in the

CMFB procedure; and

– LOOKS FORWARD to the forthcoming Commission Communication

for a strategic approach on the reduction the statistical burden and will

RECALL this issue at its forthcoming meeting.”

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Rådskonklusioner om holdbarheden af de offentlige finanser

“The Council welcomes the Commission's comprehensive sustainability

assessment of Member States’ public finances, on the basis of the new age-related

expenditure projections, released in February 2006, for pensions, health care,

long-term care, education and unemployment transfers for the period 2004 to

2050.

The Council notes that several Member States have implemented structural

reforms in recent years, allowing for a reduction of the projected increase in age-

related expenditure and thus contributing to long-term sustainability. Other

countries are in the process of doing so, which is welcome. Ensuring sustainability

of public finances remains a major challenge and EU Member States are

encouraged to undertake further substantial reforms to address this where needed.

Delaying further policy action could be costly.

In the Commission's assessment, based on a no-policy-change scenario, the EU-

wide sustainability gap, i.e. the gap between the structural budgetary position in

2005 and a sustainable budgetary position, stood at about 3�½% of GDP and

would lead to an EU-wide debt-to-GDP ratio of almost 200% of GDP in 2050.

In the absence of further reforms and relying only on fiscal adjustment to ensure

sustainability of public finances would mean that the 2% of GDP structural deficit

observed in the EU in 2005 should be transformed into a surplus of 1�½% of

GDP.

Even before considering the impact of ageing populations, the initial budgetary

position in about half of the Member States is not sufficiently strong and

contributes in itself to the risks of unsustainable public finances. On the

assumption that the medium-term budgetary objectives (MTO) are attained in

2010 by all Member States, the EU-wide sustainability gap would be more than

halved, to 1�½ % of GDP, and the debt-to GDP ratio brought to 80% of GDP.

This would be an important step, but it is not sufficient.

This points to the need for further structural reforms and/or budgetary

consolidation, in line with the three-pronged strategy to ensure sustainability

decided by the Stockholm European Council in 2001, i.e. (i) reducing debt at a

fast pace; (ii) raising employment rates and productivity; and, (iii) reviewing and,

where appropriate, reforming pension, health care and long-term care systems.

There are however large variations between Member States, both in terms of risks

and appropriate policy responses. The Council notes that: the appropriate

combination of policies in the threepronged strategy will depend on the reasons

behind the sustainability challenges and Member States' policy priorities. In this

respect, the Council considers that the risk categorisation used in the sustainability

report, introduced in the last round of assessments of Stability and Convergence

Programmes, provides an important tool to assess the sustainability challenges

that Member States are facing.

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The Council:

– will continue to assess developments of the sustainability of public

finances in the Member States in the context of the annual examination of

the Stability and Convergence Programmes;

– considers that the multi-annual assessment by the Commission, the

sustainability report, updated with missing data from several countries,

should be the basis for the annual examination of the Stability and

Convergence programmes, while taking into account all other relevant

information given in the programmes, including the starting budgetary

positions. A new sustainability report should be prepared by the

Commission when new common age-related expenditure projections

become available in 2009;

– invites the EPC and the Commission to explore further improvements in

the methodology in dealing with the impact of ageing on government

revenues over the long-term, including the feasibility and value-added of

more detailed projections.”