§ Mr. HoodTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what was the outcome of the ECOFIN Council held in Brussels on 31 January; and if he will make a statement. [108322]
§ Miss Melanie JohnsonThe Chancellor of the Exchequer attended the Economic and Finance Council of Ministers.
The Portuguese Presidency presented their work programme. The main emphasis will be on preparation for the Special European Council at Lisbon, which will set a new agenda for economic policy reform. Other key themes of the Presidency are continuing work on economic policy co-ordination, including the Broad Economic Policy Guidelines, promoting the single market, particularly in financial services, improving financial management, and tackling money laundering.
The Presidency also undertook to continue work on the tax package. The Chancellor emphasised the importance of continuing to take measures that genuinely combat harmful tax competition, through the work of the Code of Conduct Group, as work is taken forward on the conclusions of the Helsinki European Council, which established the very clear principle that all citizens resident in the EU should pay the tax due on all their savings income.
As part of Stage III of EMU, member states are obliged to submit stability (for the Outs) and convergence (for the Ins) programmes annually, as updates to their original programmes submitted in March 1999. The deadline was end December 1999, and the programmes are now being examined by ECOFIN Ministers over three meetings. The programmes for Sweden, Greece, Finland, Ireland and the Netherlands were discussed and agreed.