§ Ms LawrenceTo 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 on 1 December. [19569]
§ Mr. Gordon BrownI represented the UK at the Economic and Finance Council—ECOFIN—of the European Union in Brussels on 1 December. The Financial Secretary accompanied me.
The Council agreed a package of measures for tackling harmful tax competition in the EU. This comprises a Code of Conduct on Business Taxation, and agreement that the 514W Commission should come forward with proposals on the taxation of savings by non-residents, and on interest and royalty payments between companies in different Member States.
The Council continued its discussion of economic co-ordination in Stage 3 of EMU, in the response to the remit from the Amsterdam European Council in June this year. No agreement was reached on what ECOFIN' s report to the European Council should say about proposals for informal discussions of issues relating to Economic and Monetary Union. The European Council will consider this at Luxembourg on 12 and 13 December.
Agreement was reached on a common position on the FISCALIS programme (which facilitates administrative co-operation between the indirect tax authorities).
The Council noted the important economic and fiscal issues surrounding the development of electronic commerce.