Rådsmøde økofin 13/5-03 Redegørelse
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Medlemmerne af
Folketingets Europaudvalg
og deres stedfortrædere
Bilag
Journalnummer
Kontor
1
400.C.2-0
EU-sekr.
21. maj 2003
Til underretning for Folketingets Europaudvalg vedlægges Finansministeriets
redegørelse for rådsmøde (økonomi- og finansministre) den 13. maj 2003.
2
20. maj 20
12 NHB
Referat af rådsmødet
(ECOFIN) den 13. maj 2003
For første gang deltog de kommende ti nye
medlemslande i rådsmødet (ECOFIN)
som observatører med taleret.
Dagsordenspunkt:
Foreløbigt forslag til Fællesskabets budget for 2004
Der var på baggrund af en præsentation af Kommissionen en drøftelse af Kommis-
sionens foreløbige forslag til EU's budget for 2004 for såvel EU-15 som for
tiltræ-
delseslandene.
Flere delegationer understregede,
at de finansielle perspektiver skulle
respekteres,
samt behovet for større marginer, særligt fo r så
vidt angår kategori 4 (eksterne poli-
tikker). Der var bred enighed om, at
Kommissionens foreløbige forslag udgjorde et
godt grundlag for det videre
arbejde.
Rådets 1. læsning af forslaget finder sted den 16. juli
2003. Rådet og Parlamentet
har til hensigt at søge en samlet aftale om
budgettet for EU-25 under samrådet ved
Rådets 2. læsning i november.
Dagsordenspunkt:
De overordnede økonomisk-politiske retnings-
linier
Der var på baggrund af en præsentation
af Kommissionen en første drøftelse af
den generelle del af Kommissionens udkast til de overordnede økonomisk-politiske
retningslinier for 2003-2005. I den forbindelse drøftedes ligeledes EPC's
udtalelse
om Kommissionens forslag til
retningslinier for medlemslandenes beskæftigelses-
politik.
Der var bred enighed om, at hovedudfordringerne var forøgelse
af vækstpotentialet,
herunder gennem øget konkurrence
på markederne for varer og tjenesteydelser,
forøgelse af beskæftigelsen, herunder via øget
fleksibilitet på arbejdsmarkederne,
samt sikring af den
langsigtede holdbarhed af de offentlige finanser, herunder gen-
nem
pensionsreformer. Der var endvidere enighed om, at Kommissionens anbefa-
linger – med den kortere og mere
præcise tekst i forhold til tidligere
år og færre
retningslinier med fokus på det mellemlange
sigt (3 år) – udgjorde et godt udgangs-
punkt. Endelig var
der enighed om at udarbejde en 'cover
note' fra ECOFIN til
Det Europæiske Råd, der
fremhævede disse prioriteter.
Rådet bad Den Økonomiske og
Finansielle Komité (EFC) og Den Økonomisk-
Politiske Komité (EPC) om at fortsætte
arbejdet med Kommissionens udkast og
forelægge
et revideret udkast for ECOFIN den 3. juni 2003. Det reviderede udkast
3
forelægges derefter for Det Europæiske
Rå d i Thessaloniki i juni 2003
og ventes
efterfølgende vedtaget af ECOFIN.
Dagsordenspunkt:
Stabilitets- og vækstpagten: Vurdering af det
opdaterede stabilitetsprogram for Østrig
Rådet vedtog udtalelse
(vedlagt) om det østrigske stabilitetsprogram.
I udtalelsen
konkluderes bl.a., at det opdaterede stabilitetsprogram kun
delvist er i
overensstemmelse med stabilitets- og vækstpagten, idet den
konjunkturrensede
budgetsaldo kun i årene 2004 og 2007 er tæt på ba-
lance. Selvom
fremskrivningen giver en tilstrækkelig sikkerhedsmargin
til undgåelse af et
uforholdsmæssig højt undersku d i en lavkonjunktur,
er der ikke
uvæsentlige risici, særlig t hvis de planlagte besparelser ikke
fuldt
ud gennemføres. Østrig bør derfor sikre gennemførelse af de
planlagte
besparelser, og de planlagte skattelettelser bør følges op med
yderligere
udgiftstilbageholdenhed for at undgå forværringer af budget-
tet og sikre en
hurtigere tilbagevenden til et budget tæt på balance.
Østrig opfordres til
allerede i 2003 at arbejde for en bedre budgetsaldo
end planlagt. Endvidere
opfordres den østrigske regering til at gennem-
føre planerne for en
rationalisering af den offentlige administration
samt til fuldt ud at
gennemføre den nationale stabilitetspagt og de plan-
lagte reformer på
pensions- og sundhedsområdet.
Dagsordenspunkt:
Pensioner: Mandat
for EPC's videre arbejde
Rådet opfordrede EPC til at
fortsætte arbejdet med pensioner og
finanspolitisk
holdbarhed i lyset af befolkningens aldring og anmodede
EPC om at fremlægge en
fremskridtsrapport om EPC's arbejde
på pensionsområdet for Rådet (ECOFIN)
den 4.
november 2003.
Rådet besluttede, at denne rapport bl.a. bør koncentrere sig
om økonomisk hold-
barhed og videreføre arbejdet med udvikling af
indikatorer for finanspolitisk hold-
barhed, herunder i forhold til de
overordnede økonomisk-politiske retningslinier og
stabilitets- og
vækstpagten. Endvidere bør rapporten forholde sig til fremskrivnin-
ger vedrørende offentlige udgifter til pensioner, sundhed, ældrepleje og andre
udgif-
ter relateret til befolkningens aldring.
Dagsordenspunkt:
Den
Internationale Finansieringsfacilitet
Der var på baggrund af Storbritanniens
præsentation en drøftelse af forslaget om
etablering af Den Internationale
Finansieringsfacilitet.
Der var generelt enighed om, at initiativet
var interessant, men at en række udestå-
ender måtte afklares. Bl.a.
fremhævede flere medlemslande, at der måtte være tale
om additionelle
bistandsmidler og ikke om en substituering
af den udviklingsbi-
stand, EU-landene havde forpligtet
sig til på Det Europæiske Råd i Barcelona og på
konferencen om
udviklingsfinansiering i Monterrey i marts 2002.
4
Rådet besluttede at lade EFC foretage en videre analyse af
forslaget, herunder i for-
hold til Den Europæiske
Udviklingsfond, med henblik på tilbagerapportering
til
Rådet (ECOFIN) på et kommende møde.
Dagsordenspunkt:
Finansielle tjenesteydelser: Pensionsfonde
Rådet vedtog
direktivforslaget om arbejdsmarkedsrelaterede
pensionsordninger og
tilsynet hermed med Europa-Parlamentets
ændringsforslag, idet et enkelt medlems-
land dog undlod at stemme og afgav
en begrundende erklæring.
Dagsordenspunkt:
Moms: Fradragsret og
grænseoverskridende
tilbagebetaling
Der var en
drøftelse af formandskabets fremskridtsrapport og
de indeholdte fire
alternative forslag for det videre
arbejde med forslaget.
Rådet besluttede at udsætte
behandlingen af dobbeltforslaget, indtil
Kommissio-
nens meddelelse om den nye momsstrategi foreligger,
og forslaget om ændring af
artikel 9 (leveringssted for tjenesteydelser,
herunder bil-leasing) i 6. momsdirektiv er
fremsat. Endvidere besluttede
Rådet at betinge en vedtagelse af dobbeltforslaget af
parallel vedtagelse af
ændring af artikel 9 i 6. momsdirektiv.
Dagsordenspunkt:
Skattepakken
Punktet blev udskudt til ECOFIN
den 3. juni 2003, idet alle
medlemslande over
frokost enedes om ikke
at genåbne skattepakken. Endvidere enedes
Rådet over
frokost om elementerne i
udkastet til aftalen med Schweiz, herunder
at det står
medlemslandene frit for at forhandle
bilateralt med Schweiz om udbytte- samt ren-
te- og royalty-betalinger.
(Tekst vedlagt.)
Dagsordenspunkt:
Italiensk anmodning om rådsbeslutning
efter Trak-
tatens artikel 88(2)
Rådet enedes over frokost om at henvise
det videre arbejde med den italienske an-
modning om
rådsbeslutning efter Traktatens artikel 88(2)
vedr. italienske land-
mænds superafgifter for
overproduktion af mælk til Coreper med henblik på mulig
beslutning i
Rådet i juni 2003. (Tekst vedlagt.)
Bilag
Rådets udtalelse vedrørende
Østrigs opdaterede stabilitetsprogram
"THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,
5
Having regard to Council regulation (EC) No.
1466/97 of 7 July 1997 on the
strengthening of the surveillance of budgetary positions and the surveillance
and
coordination of economic policies, and in particular Article 5(3)
thereof,
Having regard to the recommendation of the Commission,
After
consulting the Economic and Financial Committee,
HAS DELIVERED THIS
OPINION:
On 13 May 2003 the Council
examined the updated stability programme for
Austria which covers the period
2003-2007. The Council notes
that the
submission was late as
compared to the date required in the
revised .code
of conduct on the
content and format of stability and
converge
programmes., and therefore the update
complies only partly with the require-
ments of the code. The new Austrian government, which
was sworn in on
28 February,
following the early general elections of 24 November
2002, was
able to present a programme update
within a relatively short period of
time.
However, more detailed quantitative information, as contained in
the draft fed-
eral budget proposal, was not available at the time of
the update.s submission.
The Council notes with
satisfaction that, in spite of
lower-than-projected
growth, government
finances in 2001 improved more rapidly
than expected,
although this favourable result was brought about
mainly by a strong increase
in
tax revenues. However, in 2002 government
finances
weakened noticeably and deviated from the target, reaching a
deficit of 0.6% in
cyclically-adjusted terms according to Commission
calculations.
The Council notes, moreover, that the debt
ratio, which is still above the
60% of GDP
reference value, increased substantially in 2001/2002,
mostly
due to a reclassification in the Austrian
gross debt reporting. The Council
notes with concern that, as a
consequence, the goal of bringing gross consoli-
dated debt below the 60% of
GDP reference value has now been significantly
delayed. The update projects
the general government deficit to widen from 0.6%
of GDP in 2002 to 1.3% in
2003, mainly due to deferred payments for
flood
damages and a widening output
gap. After a temporary improvement in
2004, the deficit is projected to increase
markedly to 1.5% in 2005 owing
to a sizeable income
tax reform. Thereafter, the deficit is estimated to gradu-
ally narrow to 1.1% of GDP in 2006 and 0.4% of GDP by 2007. The cyclically-
adjusted deficit follows the pattern of the nominal figures: it widens by
0.5 per-
centage points in 2003 to some
1% of GDP, improves by virtually the
same
amount in 2004, before rising strongly to 1.3% in 2005 due to the
planned net
tax relief. Despite narrowing thereafter, the deficit in
cyclically-adjusted terms
remains at 1.1% of GDP
in 2006 and improves by the required
½ percentage
point to 0.5% of GDP only as late as in 2007. The
government gross debt is
expected to
decrease from its peak of 67.8% of GDP
in 2002 to slightly
below the 60% reference value in 2007.
6
The budgetary projections of
the programme are based
on a macro-
economic scenario
expecting economic activity to gradually resume
from
its current cyclical weakness. Real GDP
growth is forecast to accelerate
from
1.0% in 2002 to 2½% by 2005 and
thereafter, amounting to annual
average growth
of 2.1% over the entire programme period.
Although some-
what above trend, the
Council considers this growth
outlook feasible,
given that no
significant macroeconomic imbalances prevail in the Austrian
economy and provided that the external environment improves
as projected.
The Council regrets that the Austrian
government will not reach its previous
target of maintaining budgetary balance and moving to a small surplus in 2004
and 2005. While recognising that this is
due to the planned tax reform, the
Council recalls that in its opinion3 on the last update it considered a
budgetary
surplus in the medium term central in bringing down the debt level
decisively,
which the Council regarded as appropriate in view of the
long-term expenditure
pressures resulting from population ageing. Indeed, on
the basis of current poli-
cies, the risk of unsustainable public finances
in light of ageing populations can
not be excluded.
In this context, the
Council welcomes the attention paid to longer-term issues, as
demonstrated
by the fundamental pension reform which
is being prepared to
tackle financial
and economic pressures from population
ageing. The Council
strongly encourages
the Austrian government to implement with determina-
tion the ambitious reform projects in
the fields of pensions and health
care, addressing many of the key problems in these areas. The Council empha-
sised repeatedly, also in its opinion on
the last update and in the Broad
Eco-
nomic Policy Guidelines, the importance of raising the low
effective retirement
age in Austria and encouraging labour force
participation, in particular of older
workers and women. Therefore, the
Council considers the planned pension and
health care reforms,
provided they are fully implemented, vital
for containing
upward pressure on expenditures in the long run,
apart from important medium-
and even short-term budgetary effects.
Likewise, the Council encourages the
Austrian
government to implement its plans for
rationalising public admini-
stration, thereby enhancing
the accomplishments to date. Beyond these
undertakings,
the national stability pact should be
fully implemented, which
would require spending restraint
to attain sustainable structural surpluses at the
Länder level.
The
Council notes the Austrian government.s intention
to reduce, as rec-
ommended, the
high tax burden significantly.
In particular, the Council
invites the Austrian government to implement the
reduction in non-wage la-
bour cost, already postponed several times. The
Council recalls, however,
its opinion on the last update, stating that
revenue reductions should be accom-
panied by equivalent reductions of
expenditure. Therefore, in order to avoid
the projected sizeable increase in the
cyclically-adjusted deficit and the
risk of
a pro-cyclical stance, the Council urges
the Austrian
7
authorities to compensate the cost of the tax
reform by additional structural ex-
penditure cuts. Past experience
shows that tax cuts only partly
matched by
commensurate spending restraint
are a particularly risky strategy.
Given the considerable
widening of the deficit, both in nominal and structural
terms after 2004,
and the current debt level, the Council considers that the envis-
aged
path of government finances in the
updated stability programme is only
partly in
line with the requirements of the Stability and Growth Pact, because the
cyclically-adjusted deficit stays close to balance
only in the years 2004 and
2007.
Although the projected path of government
finances would leave suffi-
cient safety margin to
prevent the deficit from breaching the 3% of
GDP
reference value in the event
of a normal cyclical downturn, the risks to the
government.s strategy are non-negligible. In particular, if the announced expen-
diture savings were only partly implemented, Austria
would not have suffi-
cient budgetary leeway to let
the automatic stabilisers work fully in the event of
a cyclical slowdown.
The Council, therefore, considers that the
expenditure cuts need to be imple-
mented as planned. In addition, the envisaged tax
relief ought to be accom-
panied by
additional expenditure restraint in order to avoid the
risk of budg-
etary slippage and to allow Austria to return earlier than
foreseen to a
budgetary position close
to balance. Already in 2003,
the government
should seek to
achieve a better deficit outcome than projected, especially if
growth should turn out higher than expected or if the flood-related emergency
funds were not fully called upon."
Tekst vedr. skattepakken/den
italienske anmodning om rådsbeslutning efter
Traktatens artikel 88(2)
Over lunch Ministers considered the tax package and the Italian request for the
authorisation of a fiscal measure concerning a Decision under Article 88(2)
of
the Treaty (milk quotas).
Ministers agreed the following:
"1. We
do not reopen the tax package, no
further discussion of Article 15
in the
Council, no reservations. This does not exclude Italy,
Portugal, or oth-
ers, to pursue bilateral discussions with the Swiss.
8
2. The Council invites the Permanent Representatives Committee to work on
the
Italian request. Work of the Permanent
Representatives Committee shall be
conducted
with a view to allowing the Council to take the decision
in June.
3. The Council takes the final decisions in June."
It is
recalled that, on 19 March (doc. 7431/03 Presse 79), all delegations but one
reached political agreement on the tax package and reaffirmed their
commitment
to formally adopting it as soon as possible.