Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 8 Oct 1997

Vol. 481 No. 2

Written Answers. - ECOFIN Meeting.

Proinsias De Rossa

Question:

59 Proinsias De Rossa asked the Minister for Finance if he will make a statement on the outcome of the informal meeting of EU Ministers on 13 September 1997, with particular regard to Structural and Cohesion Funds for Ireland after 1999. [15642/97]

Michael Bell

Question:

88 Mr. Bell asked the Minister for Finance if he will make a statement on the deliberations which took place at the informal meeting of the ECOFIN Council in Luxembourg on the weekend of 12-14 September 1997; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15700/97]

Minister for Finance (Mr. McCreevy)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 59 and 88 together.

Informal Council meetings provide an opportunity for Ministers to have a general discussion on issues which will feature on the agendas of future formal Councils. It is not the practice for such meeting to take decisions. At the informal meeting of EU Finance Ministers in Luxembourg last month, we discussed a range of issues including economic and monetary union, taxation and the Commission's proposals on the future financing of the Union, having regard to future enlargement of the Union (Agenda 2000).

The meeting reaffirmed that the EMU project remains firmly on target for the commencement of Stage 3 on 1 January 1999. We considered the structure and content of the report which the Amsterdam European Council asked that we make to the European Council in Luxembourg next December. Substantial progress was made in all the areas required to be covered in the report. These include ways of improving the processes of economic co-ordination in Stage 3 of EMU and external aspects of EMU, including the Community's position at international level on EMU issues.

There was also agreement that, at the same time as the participants in Stage 3 of EMU are announced around May next year, there will be a pre-announcement of the bilateral exchange rates of the currencies of the participating member states. These rates will become effective on 1 January 1999 and in line with the Treaty on European Union, the actual setting of the conversion rates against the euro can only take place on that date.

Our discussions provided valuable guidance and direction for the intensive work of preparation for economic and monetary union being carried out in the member states and in the Community institutions.

There was a broad discussion on the Commission's proposals for a tax package which includes a code of conduct to tackle harmful tax competition and measures to eliminate certain tax-related distortions affecting the single market. The matter will be discussed again at the meeting of ECOFIN on 13 October.

In a wide-ranging discussion Ministers gave their initial reaction to the Agenda 2000 package.

The proposals were broadly welcomed as a coherent framework for addressing the challenges facing the Union in the years ahead. From the viewpoint of structural funding, no detailed discussion of allocations for individual member states took place. This will not arise for some time yet. What was discussed was the adequacy of the overall package and the budget limits to meet the challenges ahead, in particular of enlargement. As instructed by the Amsterdam European Council, the General Affairs Council (Foreign Ministers) will examine the Commission proposals and report to the European Council in December. The ECOFIN Council, Finance Ministers, will give its views on aspects of particular concern to them which will be taken into account in the report to the December summit.

Of particular concern to Finance Ministers is the overall level of spending envisaged in the proposals and the related issue of financing the EU budget. In Ireland's case, the level of our continued receipts under Structural Funds, the Cohesion Fund and CAP are of course the paramount concern and the Government will be seeking to maximise Ireland's receipts in the next round of funding.