§ Mr. TimmsTo 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 19 May. [43749]
§ Mr. Gordon BrownI chaired the Economic and Finance Council—ECOFIN—of the European Union in Brussels on 19 May. The Economic Secretary represented the UK.
226WThe Council began with a presentation by Commissioner Liikanen of the Commission's Preliminary Draft Budget for 1999. The Council stressed the need for continued budgetary rigour.
On Agenda 2000, the Council held a wide-ranging discussion on the economic and financial issues arising from the proposals published by the Commission on 18 March concerning future financing and the reform of the Community's main spending policies (the Common Agricultural Policy and the Structural and Cohesion Funds). The next ECOFIN will return to these issues, and consider ECOFIN's input to the Cardiff European Council.
Commissioner Liikanen gave a progress report on the Sound and Efficient Management (SEM 2000) initiative. The Council agreed conclusions on the report.
Commissioner Gradin presented the annual report on the fight against fraud and the future work programme. The Council adopted conclusions on the documents, including a call for the convention on the Protection of the Communities' Financial interests to be ratified as soon as possible.
The Council unanimously supported conclusions endorsing the report of the High Level Group on alcohol and tobacco fraud, and welcoming the Commission's Communication.
The Council approved the Commission's Recommendation on Greece's excessive deficit.
Commissioner de Silguy presented the Commission's recommendations for this year's Broad Economic Guidelines. These will be discussed at the next ECOFIN.
The Presidency's proposals on the procedure for surveillance of progress on economic reform were agreed. These include the presentation by Member States and the Commission of short annual progress reports on product and capital markets, which will complement the procedure already established on labour markets.
There was a first discussion of National Employment Action Plans, substituted by all Member States. Employment will again be discussed at the next ECOFIN, which will contribute to the preparation of the Cardiff European Council.
Under Any Other Business, Irish Finance Minister McCreevy presented a study on the impact on Ireland of the abolition of the duty free regime on 30 June 1999. The Commission agreed to produce a working document clarifying the existing instruments available to member States for addressing the adverse consequences of abolition. The decision to abolish duty free was taken in 1991 and there was no unanimous view to reopen this issue.