ECOFIN: 15 January 2016

George Osborne Excerpts

Thursday 21st January 2016 Written Statements

[The First Secretary of State and Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr George Osborne)]

A meeting of the Economic and Financial Affairs Council was held in Brussels on 15 January 2016. Ministers discussed the following items:

Current legislative proposals

The presidency updated the Council on the state of play of financial services dossiers.

Presentation of the presidency Work programme

The new ECOFIN chair, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, provided an outline of the Dutch presidency’s Work programme.

European semester

The Council adopted conclusions on two European semester reports: the annual growth survey and the alert mechanism report. A Council recommendation on the economic policy of the euro area was also approved and will be sent to February European Council for endorsement.

Implementation of the banking union

The Commission gave an update on implementation of several dossiers linked to the banking union: the single resolution fund, the bank recovery and resolution directive and the deposit guarantee scheme directive.

Combating VAT fraud in the EU: Use of the reverse charge mechanism

An exchange of views was held in relation to widening the use of the reverse charge mechanism to combat VAT fraud in the EU.

Counter-terrorist financing

The Commission updated Ministers on progress to bring forward new proposals to reinforce the European framework in the fight against the financing of terrorism. The Council welcomed the update and will revisit the issue in February.

[HCWS484]