Michael Noonan
Question:16 Mr. Noonan asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if the EU Commission will have a greater role in the area of taxation. [12854/00]
Written Answers. - EU Taxation.
The Deputy is no doubt aware that there are important discussions going on in the framework of the ECOFIN Council dealing with taxation matters. A high level working group established at the Helsinki European Council last December which has been mandated to progress an agreement on an EU tax package is to report back to ECOFIN in time for it to report to the European Council in June 2000 at the latest. The three key items of the tax package are: a code of conduct on business taxation, proposals for a directive on the taxation of income from savings, and proposals for a directive on the taxation of interest and royalty payments between companies.
These ongoing discussions on the tax package do not include consideration of whether the Commission will have a greater role in the area of taxation.
As regards the Intergovernmental Conference, while there has been some discussion on the method of voting on taxation issues in the council, on which Ireland's views are well-known, there are no substantive proposals with regard to changing the role of the Commission in this area.