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Council of the European Union     2/10/2018  Declaration by the High Representative on behalf of the EU on the situation in Nicaragua Five months after the outbreak of social protests in Nicaragua, the situation in the country remains of serious concern to the European Union and its Member States. Basic principles of democracy, accountability and rule of law continue to be severely undermined by the authorities' repression, which creates a climate of fear and mistrust. The national dialogue with the aim of reaching political solutions to these problems is now stalled. The lack of official cooperation with the international missions investigating human rights abuses prevents full accountability and justice to be served and encourages impunity. To this end and in line with previous statements, the European Union and its Member States urge the government of Nicaragua to allow the return of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNOHCHR) and enable it to continue its mission in the country as well as to provide the necessary support requested by the Follow-Up Mechanism on Nicaragua (MESENI) and the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (GIEI) to carry out their mandate. We call on the government of Nicaragua to stop the disproportionate use of force against demonstrators, halt arrests based on laws which criminalize peaceful protest, free peaceful demonstrators and re-establish the full respect of due process for all detainees. We also call on the government of Nicaragua to act on the findings and recommendations by the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights (IACHR) and UNOHCHR, in particular to ensure full accountability for perpetrators of human rights' abuses and the disarming and disbanding of armed groups. The European Union and its Member States continue to support an inclusive dialogue on justice and democracy as the way out of the current crisis and reiterate their willingness to contribute to this process as a means to deliver on the legitimate democratic aspirations of the Nicaraguan people. To this end we renew our call on the government of Nicaragua to resume the national dialogue and stand ready to further support this process. Council of the European Union     2/10/2018  VAT fraud: Council agrees to allow generalised, temporary reversal of liability On 2 October, the Council agreed a proposal that will allow temporary derogations from normal VAT rules in order to better prevent VAT fraud. The proposed directive will allow member states that are most severely affected by VAT fraud to temporarily apply a generalised reversal of VAT liability. This so-called generalised ‘reverse charge’ mechanism involves shifting liability for VAT payments from the supplier to the customer. The Commission issued the proposal in December 2016 at the request of member states particularly affected by VAT fraud. "This directive will provide a solution for member states that face endemic carousel fraud", said Hartwig Löger, minister for finance of Austria, which currently holds the Council presidency. "It is an exceptional measure, limited in time, that could prove to be an efficient way to fight VAT fraud." Member states will be able to use the generalised reverse charge mechanism (GRCM), only for domestic supplies of goods and services above a threshold of €17 500 per transaction, only up until 30 June 2022, and under very strict technical conditions. In particular, in a member state that wishes to apply such measure, 25% of the VAT gap has to be due to carousel fraud. Among other requirements, this member state will have to establish appropriate and effective electronic reporting obligations on all taxable persons, in particular those to which the mechanism would apply. The generalised reverse charge mechanism may only be used by a member state once it meets the eligibility criteria and its request has been authorised by the Council. The application of this measure is also subject to strict EU safeguards. Council of the European Union     2/10/2018 VAT: Council agrees short-term fixes, pending overhaul On 2 October 2018, the Council agreed on four adjustments to the EU's current VAT rules to fix specific issues. Pending introduction of the new VAT system, four short-term 'quick fixes' will be made regarding the VAT aspects of trade between the member states. Discussions are ongoing on a definitive VAT system to replace the current 'transitional' VAT arrangements, which have been applied since 1993. "This package of proposals is aimed at fixing some of the practical problems we are experiencing with the current VAT rules”, said Hartwig Löger, minister for finance of Austria, which currently holds the Council presidency. “At the same time, it is of high practical relevance for our businesses who will benefit from the harmonised rules." Council of the European Union     2/10/2018  Electronic publications: Council agrees to allow reduced VAT rates On 2 October 2018, the Council agreed a proposal allowing member states to apply reduced, super-reduced or zero VAT rates to electronic publications, thereby allowing alignment of VAT rules for electronic and physical publications. The text will contribute to the EU’s ‘digital single market’ plan. "This proposal is part of our efforts to modernise VAT for the digital economy, and enables us to keep pace with technological progress." Hartwig Löger, minister for finance of Austria, which currently holds the Council presidency Under the current VAT rules (directive 2006/112/EC), electronically supplied services are taxed at the standard VAT rate, i.e. minimum 15%, whereas publications on a physical support may benefit from non-standard rates. For physical publications – books, newspapers and periodicals – member states currently have the option of applying a ‘reduced’ VAT rate, i.e. minimum 5%. Some have been authorised to apply ‘super-reduced’ VAT rates (below 5%) or ‘zero’ rates (which involve VAT deductibility). The directive will allow member states that so wish to apply reduced VAT rates to electronic publications as well. Super-reduced and zero rates will only be allowed for member states that currently apply them to ‘physical’ publications. The new rules will apply temporarily, pending the introduction of a new, ‘definitive’ VAT system. The Commission has issued proposals for the new system, which would allow member states more flexibility than at present in setting VAT rates.  Process Agreement was reached at a meeting of the Economic and Financial Affairs Council. The directive will be adopted without further discussion once the text has been finalised in all official languages. The directive requires unanimity within the Council, after consulting the European Parliament. (Legal basis: article 113 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.) The Parliament voted its opinion on 1 June 2017. Text of the directive as agreed Eurogroup     1/10/2018 |  Remarks by M. Centeno following the Eurogroup meeting of 1 October 2018 Good afternoon. We had some good discussions today. It was a special meeting for Slovenia as we welcomed Andrej Bertoncelj, the new Slovenian minister, who informed us of his government's policy priorities and re-iterated Slovenia’s commitments to our common policies and objectives as a euro area country. We took stock of recent exchange rate developments, which is one of the recurring tasks of the Eurogroup. The assessments by the Commission and the ECB are broadly aligned and they are shared by ministers. It is good that we go into the upcoming G7, G20 and IMF meetings with a common assessment. We also discussed the role of the euro in the world economy. 20 years after its creation the euro is the second most used currency in the world. Reinforcing its international role is not a new topic for the Eurogroup but there are good reasons to look at this today with renewed ambition. The President of the Commission recently relaunched this debate and is preparing an initiative until the end of the year. We will study the matter in due course. We then discussed national automatic stabilisers. These are policies that respond automatically to the economic cycle without active intervention from policy makers, for instance tax revenues and unemployment expenditures. These elements tend to cushion the economic cycle and play a stabilising role in our economies, although to a different extent, depending on the Member State. Today ministers discussed the examples from several member states: Ireland, France, Spain, Germany, Luxembourg and Lithuania. These discussions are important because we learn from our experiences. Automatic stabilisers are often our first line of defence. We agreed that they work best if we use good economic times to build up fiscal buffers, in line with the Stability and Growth Pact. We also talked about how national policies can enhance stabilisers, how to design reforms and what to do when national stabilisers are not enough to counter a major shock. The situation in Italy was not on the agenda today but recent announcements by the Italian government have raised concerns over its budgetary course. Concerns that need to be addressed soon. Today minister Tria explained these recent decisions and its budgetary strategy. We had a good exchange of views. We are all aware of what is at stake. We are all bound by the euro and we need sound policies to protect it. It is up to the Italian government to show it has a sustainable and credible budgetary plan. Today was not the moment for an in-depth discussions. Italy has yet to present its full draft budgetary plan by 15 October, like the rest of the member states and we will certainly come back to this. Finally, we welcomed non euro area ministers to resume our discussions on EMU deepening. In June, Leaders agreed to further developed the ESM, reinforcing its role. They mandated us to prepare, by December, a detailed plan, a so-called term sheet, to make this happen. Discussions are ongoing at technical level. So, today, we focused on two issues: how to make the ESM's existing precautionary tools more effective; and how to develop the role of the ESM in crisis management and crisis prevention. Making precautionary tools more effective means ensuring that the countries with sound economic fundamentals that need assistance will actually request it, without fear of stigma. This stigma played a negative role in the recent crisis so we need to address this for the future. At the same time, an appropriate level of conditionality needs to be ensured. This is the balancing act we have to accomplish. Today we had a good discussion and work will continue, in particular on the ex-ante eligibility criteria to access the so-called PCCL, the Precautionary Conditioned Credit Line. On developing the role of the ESM in crisis management and crisis prevention, we had a constructive exchange with the institutions to assess what can be done, fully respecting the EU legal framework. There is broad support to strengthen the ESM in its function as a lender. At the same time, overlaps with EU processes and Commission competencies should be avoided. In other words, cooperation between the ESM and the other institutions, especially the Commission, will be crucial, as it was the case during the recent crisis. On both issues, an agreement is clearly within reach, though discussions need to continue. We will continue to make progress on all the EMU deepening topics in the next two months. The December Eurogroup would then wrap up all the discussions and prepare the Leaders' decision later that month. Eurogroup   1/10/2018 Main results - Eurogroup, 01/10/2018 The Eurogroup discussed the role of national automatic stabilisers and the reform of the European Stability Mechanism. Eurogroup meeting in regular format of 19 eurozone countries National automatic stabilisers   The Eurogroup held a thematic discussion on the role of national automatic stabilisers. Ministers exchanged views on how national policies could enhance the automatic stabilisers and shared their national experiences in this area. Well-functioning national automatic stabilisers, which include tax and benefit systems, are the first lines of defence when a country is experiencing an economic shock. They are particularly important for countries that belong to a monetary union, because they cannot rely on their own monetary and exchange rate policies to counteract shocks.  Ministers also discussed how national automatic stabilisers and fiscal buffers relate to the need for a possible common fiscal capacity for the euro area. Note to the Eurogroup on national automatic stabilisers Preparation of international meetings including discussion of exchange rate developments Ministers took stock of the recent exchange rate developments. This is a regular discussion within the Eurogroup in preparation for international meetings. The next G20 and IMF meetings will take place in Bali, Indonesia, on 11-12 October and 12-14 October respectively. Meeting of 27 member states Reform of the European Stability Mechanism The Eurogroup discussed the reform of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), as mandated by the Euro Summit meeting in June this year. The Eurogroup is expected to agree 'on a term sheet for the further development of the ESM by December 2018'. The discussion focused on two aspects of the reform: a review of the ESM toolkit, in particular the effectiveness of precautionary instruments and their eligibility criteria the role of the ESM in crisis management and prevention Ministers agreed to request further technical work, in particular on the effectiveness of the precautionary conditioned credit line and the related ex ante eligibility criteria. They also agreed to continue the discussion on developing the ESM's role in crisis management and prevention, focusing on the need to avoid possible overlap with the existing EU processes and the European Commission's competences in this area. Euro Summit, 29 June 2018 ESM lending toolkit Statement of the Euro Summit, 29 June 2018 Letter by Eurogroup President Mário Centeno to European Council President Donald Tusk ahead of the Euro Summit of 29 June 2018 Meeting information Luxembourg   01/10/2018 Preparatory documents Draft annotated Eurogroup Agenda 1 October 2018 Draft annotated Eurogroup Agenda in inclusive format 1 October 2018 Outcome documents Eurogroup 1 October 2018 - List of participants Eurogroup 1 October 2018 - Inclusive format - List of participants  Council of the European Union     1/10/2018  Better protection for farmers against unfair trading practices: Council agrees its negotiating position On 1 October 2018, EU member states meeting in the Special Committee on Agriculture (SCA) reached agreement on the Council's negotiating position on the Commission's proposal for fairer relations in the agri-food sector between small farmers and processors, and their larger trading partners. The SCA also asked the presidency to start negotiations with the European Parliament as soon as the Parliament is ready. "This legislation will put an end to practices such as late payments and retroactive changes to contracts. Farmers will soon have more effective ways of defending themselves from unilateral abuses by large operators. We want a fair agri-food system that rewards farmers for quality, and guarantees them a fair standard of living." Elisabeth Koestinger, Austrian federal minister of agriculture, forestry, environment and water management and president of the Council European Council     1/10/2018  Joint statement by President Tusk and NATO Secretary-General Stoltenberg on the consultative referendum in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia The name agreement between Athens and Skopje has created a historic opportunity for the country to join the transatlantic and European community as an equal member. This would change the life of the people of the country and that of their children for the better. In yesterday’s consultative referendum, an overwhelming majority of those voting supported that path. It is now in the hands of politicians in Skopje to decide on the way forward. The decisions they take in the next days and weeks will determine the fate of their country and their people for many generations to come. We encourage them to seize this historic opportunity.