ECOFIN

George Osborne Excerpts

Tuesday 14th May 2013 Written Statements

[The Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr George Osborne)]

A meeting of the Economic and Financial Affairs Council will be held in Brussels on 14 May 2013. The following items are on the agenda to be discussed.

Banking Recovery and Resolution

There will be a state of play discussion on the banking recovery and resolution directive.

Current legislative proposals

The presidency intends to give a state of play update on the revision of the anti-money laundering (AML) directive and the revised rules for markets in financial instruments directive/regulation (MiFID/MiFIR).

Draft Amending Budget No 2 to the General Budget 2013

ECOFIN will seek to reach a political agreement on this. The Government have been clear that they want to see real budgetary restraint in the EU. They will not support a request for additional payments from the EU budget for 2013. The Government are committed to continue to work hard to limit EU spending, reduce waste and inefficiency, and deliver the best possible deal for taxpayers.

Savings taxation and mandate for negotiations of amendments to the Savings Taxation agreements with third countries

ECOFIN will seek to reach a political agreement on a proposal for a Council directive amending the EU savings directive, and to adopt the mandate for negotiations of amendments to the savings taxation agreements with third countries. The Government support an agreement of the amending proposal to the EU savings directive and an adoption of the mandate as soon as possible.

Draft Council conclusions on tax evasion and fraud

ECOFIN will seek to adopt Council conclusions on tax evasion and fraud. The Government believe tackling tax evasion and fraud is as an important issue for protecting revenues and for ensuring public confidence in the fairness and effectiveness of our tax systems, which needs a combination of action at both domestic and international level.

Macro-economic Imbalances Procedure: In-depth reviews

Council will seek to endorse Council conclusions on the macro-economic imbalances procedure: In-depth reviews.

Towards a deep and genuine Economic and Monetary Union: Commission communications

The Commission will present the two communications on a deep and genuine economic and monetary union which were published on 20 March. These cover the introduction of a convergence and competitiveness instrument and ex ante co-ordination of plans for major economic policy reforms.

Follow-up to the G20 Finance Ministers and Governors (18-19 April) and IMF/World Bank (19-21 April) 2013 Spring meetings in Washington. USA

The presidency and Commission will debrief Ministers on the main outcomes of the G20 Finance Ministers and Governors and IMF/World Bank spring meetings.

Pilot Initiative on automatic exchange of information

There will be a presentation to Council by the G5 (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK) on their pilot project on automatic exchange of information in the area of taxation. The UK is committed to tackling tax evasion through exchanging tax information between countries and, with France, Germany, Italy and Spain, the UK is aiming to embed multilateral automatic exchange of information based on Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) agreements with the US as the new single global standard.