§ Mr. Matthew BanksTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the informal Council meeting of the Economic and Finance Ministers and central bank governors of the European Union held in Valencia on 30 September. [37741]
§ Mr. Kenneth ClarkeThe Governor of the Bank of England and I represented the UK at an informal meeting of the Economic and Finance Ministers and central bank governors of the European Union held in Valencia 30 September.
The meeting was devoted almost exclusively to discussion of economic and monetary union and, in particular, to various issues that the Council was asked to consider by the Cannes European Council, including the reference scenario for the transition to a single currency. It was agreed that further work would be needed in the run-up to the Madrid European Council.
The Council also considered the terms of European investment bank lending to Palestine.
311WThe Council discussed the US proposal to establish a middle east development bank and decided that it required
§ Mr. BanksTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will make a statement on the Council meeting of the Economic and Finance Ministers of the European Union held in Brussels on 18 September. [37742]
§ Mr. ClarkeI represented the United Kingdom at the Economic and Finance Council of the European Union in Brussels on 18 September.
The Council considered Sweden's convergence programme under article 103/3. It discussed the format of the report on employment to be submitted to the Madrid European Council.
The Council had a preparatory discussion about its meeting with Finance Ministers of the central and east European countries on 23 October, which will consider the financial services in those countries and the need for further report.
The Council considered the constraints imposed on Community lending to third countries by the loan guarantee fund. The guarantee fund covers the European investment bank, Euratom and macro-economic lending. I argued that there should be no relaxation of the budgetary discipline imposed by the mechanism. No decisions were made and the Council will return to this issue at a later date.
The Council adopted, by qualified majority voting, the cross-border payments directive, which seeks to improve the transparency and efficiency of payments made between member states. I made it clear that, although we support the principle of the directive, the UK opposed the proposed limits to the scope of the directive and the proposed separate limits on the level of payments which would extract the money-back guarantee in the event of loss. I noted that this weakened the protection which the directive would give to small businesses and private individuals when making cross-border payments. The UK accordingly abstained in the vote.
Over lunch with the Finance Ministers of the EFTA nations we discussed unemployment and in particular approaches to tackling youth unemployment.