Mr. Algirdas ?emeta:

I have to be clear that the Commission can solve all the problems with tax fraud and tax evasion. The majority of work in this area has to be done at the level of member states. We started to use the European semester and will intensify our efforts with concrete recommendations to member states on how they can improve their fight against tax fraud and evasion.

That is one issue.

Then we have European level and VAT fraud. On VAT fraud, only in July last we proposed the so-called "quick reaction mechanism" which would allow reaction quickly to new phenomena of fraud. Unfortunately, one or two member states continue to block this proposal which would allow member states to significantly improve the situation vis-à-visVAT fraud. Then there are all the issues of corporate tax fraud, which issue I addressed when answering an earlier question.

On the time frame for FTT and CCCTB, as I stated, in the discussion today with the Minister for Finance I was assured that there will be a political debate in the ECOFIN Council during the Irish Presidency. The complete timeframe will depend on the outcome of this debate because we have come to political issues, such as apportionment formula and consolidation or non-consolidation. These are political issues which must be discussed by Ministers. When they then give direction, that will define the speed of the process ahead. Of course, we are pushing progress as fast as possible, but we must have unanimity here and we must be realistic that progress is not as fast as we would like. Taking into account the strong commitment of those 11 member states to go ahead with FTT, I am cautiously optimistic that it could be negotiated by the autumn and enter into force from 2014.