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The discussion in the meeting focused on the overall economic growth of the European Union (EU) and the necessary implementation of well thought-out economic, financial and fiscal policy, as well as the goal to put into practice the Investment Plan for Europe as soon as possible.
As the main directions that will characterize cooperation with ECON Committee Members during the Latvian Presidency the Minister mentioned competitiveness, investment, economic governance, bank union, financial market regulation and tax policy issues.
“Latvia as the presiding country in the EU Council will work to make the Investment plan operational within our term. Regarding this issue, we expect close cooperation among the involved parties and a constructive dialogue with all partners,” emphasized Finance minister Janis Reirs in his address to Members.
Speaking further about the economic growth the minister noted that Europe should become more competitive to achieve growth. He further explained that investment should be promoted, in particular, in new, competitive products and services. “Only through the development of a competitive sector of industry and services Europe can promote creation of jobs and thus ensure social cohesion,” said Mr. Reirs. He further explained that our common goal can be achieved with growth-facilitating investment measures, which are strongly rooted in effective structural reforms and a thought-out fiscal policy.
Speaking about the banking union J. Reirs mentioned that already last year a number of important steps were made to provide banks with a better possibility to restore crediting and facilitate more active financing of growth. Latvia during its presidency will be obliged to ensure smooth functioning of the recently launched mechanisms of the banking union.
Regarding tax policy, Latvia’s priority during its presidency will be development of the legislation restricting tax evasion or aggressive tax planning. In this field it is planned to work on such issues as automatic exchange of tax information about cross-border tax rulings, as well as to continue the work done by the Italian Presidency in order to develop a roadmap on base erosion and profit shifting in the EU. Latvia will also actively follow the work commenced in the field of harmful business taxation regimes, notably with regard to “patent box” regimes and negotiations with third countries.
