Eurogroup and ECOFIN meetings, 3 and 4 December 2018

Vice-President Dombrovskis and Commissioner Moscovici will represent the Commission at today’s Eurogroup meeting. Ministers will discuss the Opinions adopted by the Commission on the Draft Budgetary Plans of euro area Member States. The Commission will present the first report for Greece under the enhanced surveillance framework that was put in place following the conclusion of the European Stability Mechanism stability support programme.

The Commission and the European Central Bank will present the main findings of the tenth post-programme surveillance mission to Spain and the fifth post-programme surveillance mission to Cyprus. The International Monetary Fund will present the main findings from its euro area Article IV interim mission. The Eurogroup will then continue in an inclusive format to discuss the state of play of the ongoing work on the deepening of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), including the completion of the Banking Union, ahead of the Euro Summit on 14 December. Commissioner Moscovici will participate in the press conference following the meeting. At tomorrow’s ECOFIN meeting, the Commission will again be represented by Vice-President Dombrovskis and Commissioner Moscovici. Ministers will debate the final compromise text of the digital services tax the Commission proposed this March as part of a wider effort to address gaps in the taxation of the digital economy. Following the discussion on the deepening of the European Monetary Union at the Eurogroup the day before, ministers will take note of progress in completing the Banking Union, in particular concerning the European Deposit Insurance Scheme. In this context, Ministers are expected to endorse the result of the informal trilogue negotiation on key risk reduction measures of the banking package. The Commission will then present the latest, encouraging data on the reduction of non-performing loans (NPLs) in the EU banking sector and will report on its successful delivery of all the initiatives mandated by the Council’s July 2017 action plan on tackling NPLs. Following the publication of itsCommunicationlast week, the Commission will also renew its calls for more intensive political engagement on the key building blocks of theCapital Markets Union (CMU)ahead of the European elections next May. The Council is due to adopt conclusions setting out an action plan on anti-money laundering, which will present a number of short-term actions. Finally, ministers will be called on to formally adopt without discussion new rules to improve the day-to-day running of the EU’s VAT system. A press conference with Vice-President Dombrovskis will follow the meeting.