ECOFIN

Lord Hammond of Runnymede Excerpts

Friday 3rd February 2017 Written Statements

[The Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr Philip Hammond)]

A meeting of the Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) was held in Brussels on 27 January 2017. EU Finance Ministers discussed the following items:

Early morning session

Ministers were briefed on the outcomes of the 26 January meeting of the Eurogroup and the European Commission presented an update on the current economic situation.

VAT: reverse charge mechanism

The Commission gave a presentation on the proposal for a temporary derogation to apply a generalised reverse charge mechanism, which was followed by an exchange of views.

Current financial service legislative proposals

The Council presidency provided an update on current legislative proposals in the field of financial services.

Presentation of the presidency work programme

The Maltese presidency of the Council of the European Union presented its priorities for ECOFIN over the next six months.

European semester 2017

Ministers adopted Council conclusions on the annual growth survey (AGS), alert mechanism report (AMR) and approved the Council recommendations on the economic policy of the euro area.

Basel Committee’s post-crisis banking reform agenda

The Commission gave Ministers an update on the progress made on the finalisation of the post-crisis reforms since the Basel meeting in November 2016, followed by an exchange of views between Ministers.

High-level group on own resources

Mario Monti, Chair of the high-level group on own resources, presented the group’s final report, which was followed by an exchange of views between Ministers.

EIB Economic Resilience Initiative

Werner Hoyer, president of the European Investment Bank, outlined the state of play of the Economic Resilience Initiative and provided preliminary evidence of its initial implementation and the ongoing fundraising process for the grant component of the initiative.

[HCWS457]