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Europaudvalget 2007-08 (2. samling)
2847 - økofin Bilag 4
Offentligt

26. februar 2008

6. kontor, MIJ

Referat af rådsmødet (ECOFIN) den 12. februar 2008

Dagsordenspunkt:

Stabilitets- og konvergensprogrammer

Rådet vedtog udtalelser om de opdaterede stabilitetsprogrammer for Finland,

Frankrig, Luxembourg, Nederlandene, Italien og Tyskland samt om de opdaterede

konvergensprogrammer for Rumænien, Slovakiet, Storbritannien, Sverige og Un-

garn.

Rådet drøftede Kommissionens vurderinger af programmerne – særligt i relation

til landenes mellemfristede mål for de offentlige finanser og opfyldelse heraf. Der

var enighed om, at medlemslandene fortsat bør gennemføre strukturelle forbed-

ringer og sikre den langsigtede holdbarhed af de offentlige finanser samt undgå

procyklisk finanspolitik.

Dagsordenspunkt:

Key Issues Paper

Rådet godkendte, som led i forberedelserne af Det Europæiske Råds (DER) for-

årstopmøde den 13.-14. marts, et Key Issues Paper.

I Key Issues papiret fremhæves bl.a. følgende emner: Den generelle økonomiske

situation i lyset af den aktuelle turbulens på de finansielle markeder, strukturre-

former for vækst og beskæftigelse – både implementering i medlemslandene og

tiltag på fælleskabsniveau – offentlige finanser og deres potentiale til at bidrage til

makroøkonomisk stabilitet, efficiensen af og stabiliteten på de finansielle marke-

der samt den økonomiske og monetære union (ØMU) i EU.

Dagsordenspunkt:

De økonomiske instrumenter til opnåelse af energi-

og klimamålene

ECOFIN drøftede en rapport fra Den Økonomisk-Politiske Komité (EPC) om

de økonomiske instrumenter til opnåelse af energi- og klimamålene og vedtog

rådskonklusioner herom,

jf. vedlagte bilag.

I konklusionerne fokuseres bl.a. på om-

kostningseffektivitet i valget af policyinstrumenter i energi- og klimapolitikken.

Konklusionerne ventes at indgå som led i drøftelsen af emnet på DER i marts.

Dagsordenspunkt:

Bedre regulering

ECOFIN havde en udveksling af synspunkter om Kommissionens meddelelse om

den anden strategiske gennemgang af bedre regulering i EU. Meddelelsen indeholder

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en status for det hidtidige arbejde med bedre regulering (forenkling af lovgivning

og konsekvensvurderinger) samt en oversigt over de næste skridt i arbejdet. Nogle

lande argumenterede for, at EU’s mål om reduktion af de administrative byrder

med 25 pct. bør opfattes som et nettomål.

Dagsordenspunkt:

Revisionsrettens årsberetning for 2006

Rådet havde en drøftelse af Revisionsrettens årsberetning for 2006. Flere lande,

herunder Danmark, fremhævede det utilfredsstillende i, at Revisionsretten endnu

en gang må give en revisionserklæring med væsentlige forbehold, selvom der er

betydelige fremskridt at spore. Rådet vedtog en henstilling til Europa-Parlamentet

om meddelelse af decharge til Kommissionen for gennemførelse af budgettet for

2006.

Diverse:

I marginen af mødet drøftede ministrene den økonomiske og finansielle situation

og formanden for eurogruppen orienterede ministrene om gruppens møde den

11. februar. Ministrene drøftede endvidere sager i relation til Den Europæiske

Bank for Genopbygning og Udvikling (EBRD), herunder mulighederne for en

eventuel udvidelse af bankens udlånsaktiviteter.

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Bilag

Rådskonklusioner vedr. de økonomiske instrumenter til opnåelse af energi- og

klimamålene:

"Tackling climate change is an economic as well as environmental issue. The mac-

roeconomic impacts of unmitigated climate change are potentially significant and

there are also substantial economic and fiscal implications from the implementa-

tion of policies to mitigate and adapt to climate change. However, the costs of

action at the global level – at up to 3 per cent of global GDP by 2030 – are esti-

mated to be far lower than the costs of inaction, as long as both global solutions

and cost-effective measures are implemented. A key challenge will be to ensure

that the transition to a low-carbon economy is handled in a way that is consistent

with EU competitiveness, sound and sustainable public finances and that contrib-

utes positively to broader growth objectives consistent with the Lisbon Strategy

for Growth and Jobs.

The Council welcomes the Economic Policy Committee's report which reviews

Member States' experience of policy instruments to address energy and climate

policy objectives. The choice and design of mitigation and adaptation policies will

substantially affect the overall costs of action. As contribution to the upcoming

European Council discussions on energy and climate change policy, which will

discuss the Commission's recently published Climate Action and Renewable En-

ergy package, the Council:



NOTES that there are a wide range of costs per tonne of CO

abated asso-

ciated with different measures across EU countries. Typically, measures to

improve energy efficiency come at least cost, while increasing the share of

renewables is more expensive in the short term, even if the cost of renewa-

bles energies can be reduced in the longer term as new technology develops.

Although a variety of instruments will be needed to achieve energy and cli-

mate change targets for 2020, their relative costs should be taken into ac-

count.

UNDERLINES the importance of market based policy instruments such as

the Emission Trading Scheme (ETS) and environment taxes to deliver least

cost policy options for meeting energy and climate change targets. Given

that policy instruments are often applied in combination, the Council EM-

PHASISES the need for careful consideration of the interaction between

different instruments to avoid reduced efficiency and excessive costs and to

deliver a consistent price on greenhouse gases – both at national and Euro-

pean level.

RECOGNISES the need to fully consider the impacts of climate change

measures on income distribution, fiscal policy, and public finances, includ-

ing possible impacts of an increase in the use of auctioning of greenhouse



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gas emission allowances (EUA) on revenue streams. The Council therefore

EMPHASIZES that any policies that have significant budgetary implica-

tions should be considered by Finance Ministers. For reasons of subsidiarity

and sustainable public finances, revenues from auctioning should be used in

line with sound budgetary principles and, specifically, not be subject to

mandatory earmarking or hypothecation at EU level. The use of such reve-

nues by Member States should not be inconsistent with EU efforts to tackle

climate change.



CONSIDERS that the full cost of the Commission's energy and climate

change proposals must be evaluated and taken into account, AGREES ON

the need for appropriate ex-ante cost-benefit analysis and post-

implementation evaluation of policy instruments and sub-targets and

CALLS FOR reporting on the budgetary, microeconomic and macroeco-

nomic costs of compliance. The reporting requirements should be in line

with the efforts to reduce administrative burden. This information should

be collated and presented to ECOFIN on a regular basis.

UNDERLINES the importance of flexibility mechanisms in order to meet

the targets in a cost-effective manner. For example, this could include flexi-

bilities in the design and implementation of renewable targets, the use of

Kyoto project based credits and the possibility of virtual or physical renew-

able trading within and outside the Union, while taking into account interac-

tions with existing effective national support schemes. The Council

NOTES that adding sub-targets could create additional costs and should

not unnecessarily restrict the flexibility of implementation.

REITERATES that the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU-ETS) is the

centrepiece of the EU’s long-term efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emis-

sions and meet its international climate change commitments and CALLS

FOR further work on market related issues linked to the ongoing develop-

ment of the EU-ETS such as the conditions under which different emission

trading schemes may be effectively and efficiently linked, expansion to in-

clude other sectors, market monitoring, regulatory supervision and the pro-

vision of information.

CONSIDERS that within the EU-ETS, auctioning appears to be, in princi-

ple, the most efficient allocation method. The Council RECOGNISES the

need to take into account competitiveness considerations and to manage the

risk of carbon leakage to countries with lower environmental standards out-

side the EU. Any necessary measures will be considered to this end. Exist-

ing evidence suggests that risks will be concentrated in energy sectors and

energy-intensive sectors of the EU economy, which vary across Member

States.



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

STRESSES the importance of clear and credible long-term signals for in-

vestors and the need for overall policy frameworks to be designed to sup-

port and generate private-sector investment in energy infrastructure and

safe and new clean technologies. The Council EMPHASISES the im-

portance of ensuring that policy proposals for 2020 and beyond provide the

private sector with a clear view of the level of carbon constraint, including

the conditions under which those constraints may be liable to change in the

future.

RECALLS that well functioning energy markets may help to improve price

signals and reduce the costs of policies used to reach energy and climate

changes objectives, as well as security of energy supply, based on diversified

energy supply networks, including the external dimension. In this context,

more efforts are needed to achieve a truly competitive, interconnected and

single Europe-wide internal market for electricity and gas.

HIGHLIGHTS the importance of co-ordinated international action for

achieving economically-efficient and environmentally-effective action and

REAFFIRMS the importance of a new comprehensive international agree-

ment on climate change under the United Nations Framework Convention

on Climate Change no later than 2009. The Council UNDERLINES the

importance of achieving cost-effective abatement through building a global

carbon market and continuing to use existing flexible international mecha-

nisms. In this context, there is a need to find solutions, create new instru-

ments and funnel private sector investment to incentivise cost-effective

abatement in developing countries (e. g. through the abolition of energy

subsidies) and enhanced national measures, with the aim of reaching a glob-

al climate agreement.



The Council INVITES the EPC to continue its work on the economic dimension

of energy and climate change and the EFC to consider the international financing

aspects of global action, with a view to receiving an update on both streams of

work by Autumn 2008."

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Rådskonklusioner vedr. det fælles eurobetalingsområde, SEPA

“The Council

- EMPHASISES its support for the aim of the Single Euro Payments Area

(SEPA): to achieve an integrated market for payment services in euro which is

subject to effective competition and where there is no distinction between cross-

border and national payments in euro within the EU;

- WELCOMES the substantial progress achieved by industry to achieve the

SEPA;

- RECOGNISES that the SEPA project has now moved from the preparatory to

the operational stage and therefore calls upon industry to redouble its efforts and

complete work, in particular in relation to the outstanding standards required in

the cards market and in the customer to bank and bank to customer space;

- ENCOURAGES industry to develop attractive SEPA payment products and

market them actively so that there is a natural momentum for customers to mi-

grate from existing payment instruments to the new SEPA payment products in a

market driven process;

- CALLS for rapid and smooth SEPA migration so that dual payment processing

costs are kept to the minimum; and highlights the need for timely and complete

transposition and implementation of the Payment Services Directive at national

level to facilitate the migration process;

- RECOGNISES the importance of finding a workable solution to ensure the

continued legal validity of existing direct debit mandates, where needed;

- ACKNOWLEDGES the important catalytic role that can be played by public

authorities in helping drive forward the migration process;

- ENCOURAGES public authorities to be early adopters of SEPA payment in-

struments subject to the principle that there should be no deterioration as com-

pared to the existing national characteristics for product performance and price,

given the positive contribution SEPA can make to the modernisation of public

administration and the e-Government Action Plan as well as the substantial bene-

fits of SEPA to the wider European economy, including through value-added-

services such as e-invoicing;

- INVITES Finance Ministries of Member States in cooperation with national

Central Banks to continue monitoring progress on SEPA at national level, in par-

ticular, as regards the adoption of SEPA by public authorities; and INVITES the

Commission in cooperation with the ECB to provide an annual progress report

on the state of migration, including where relevant the pricing of SEPA instru-

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ments and the enhancement of competition within the SEPA area as well as other

SEPA related developments at the end of each year until the successful migration

of a critical mass of payment instruments has been achieved and at the end 2008,

2009 and 2010 in any event.”