Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

I attended the ECOFIN Council meeting in Brussels on 8 November 2005. This meeting was attended by Ministers of Finance of all 25 EU member states and of Bulgaria and Romania.

The Council held a debate on Council conclusions on means of establishing an improved control framework for the EU budget on the basis of work carried out by a group of member state experts convened by the Commission and co-chaired by the Presidency. Council adopted Presidency conclusions on the Commission's proposal for a roadmap to an integrated internal control framework for the EU budget, setting out proposals for the harmonisation of principles of controls and for the simplification of legislation.

The Council adopted conclusions on the introduction of a common EU methodology to measure administrative burdens, which burdens are the costs imposed by legal obligations to provide information. The introduction of this initiative will assist the EU Commission in measuring the costs imposed by EU legislation and will complement other initiatives taken in the area of better regulation, such as the screening of regulatory proposals, the simplification of existing legislation and impact assessments.

With regard to EU statistical governance, the Council adopted conclusions, including measures to be taken in order to improve the quality of statistical data to be used in the assessment of member states' budgetary situations. These conclusions support the creation of a new high-level advisory body to enhance EUROSTAT independence and governance. Ireland's National Statistics Board has worked well in a similar role vis-À-vis the Central Statistics Office. I welcome the ongoing review of EU statistical priorities. In a rapidly changing world, it is vital to make sure that the information produced by statisticians matches the information needed by policy makers.

The Council adopted the decision under Article 104(8) of the treaty, which points to Hungary's failure to correct its excessive deficit below the reference value of 3% of GDP by 2008. The Council will closely monitor Hungary's progress in dealing with this issue on the basis of reports from the Commission.

The UK Presidency presented a report to Council on progress on proposals aimed at simplifying cross-border business obligations relating to value-added tax, and on future handling of the dossier by the UK and Austrian presidencies. The proposals are intended to ease VAT compliance for businesses. The proposals consist of a draft directive amending a previous directive with a view to simplifying VAT obligations, a draft directive laying down detailed rules for the refund of VAT to businesses in member states where it has no base, and a draft regulation amending a previous regulation as regards administrative co-operation under the "one-stop" scheme and the refund procedure for VAT. The Council noted the progress made and also the need for further work on the dossier during the UK Presidency and the forthcoming Austrian Presidency.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House.

Council discussed the main issues to be resolved in order that agreement be reached before the end of the year on modifications to EU rules regarding reduced rates of value-added tax applied by the member states. Council agreed to return to this in December. While Ireland is prepared to contribute to further work in the area, we will continue to protect our zero and reduced rated items. The structure of VAT rates is a sensitive political issue for certain member states who can face costly consequences from pressures to reduce particular rates of VAT.

The Commission presented three papers on cross-border mergers and acquisitions in the financial services sector: a communication on intra-EU investment in the financial services sector, a working document on cross-border consolidation and a working paper on review of article 16 of directive 2000/12/EC. Presidency conclusions were agreed supporting the continuation of the Commission's work in reviewing the obstacles to cross-border consolidation in the financial services sector and the issue will be further discussed at future ECOFINs.

Council was briefed on the financial consequences of the reform of the EU's common market organisation in the sugar sector that has been proposed by the Commission. The issue of funding for the action plan to aid African, Caribbean and Pacific countries and the restructuring package for member states was discussed in this context. There were no conclusions.

The annual meeting between members of ECOFIN and members of the European free trade area took place at lunch time. The topic for discussion at this year's lunch was employment and growth in the context of globalisation.

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