| 05/11/2024 16:00 | Press release | | | | | The Council today adopted a €5 million assistance measure under the European Peace Facility, to strengthen the operational capabilities of the Congolese Navy. This assistance will enable the Congolese Navy to step up its patrols in the waters of the Gulf of Guinea, including in collaboration with the vessels of partner countries conducting maritime security operations in the area, within the framework of the Yaoundé Architecture. As part of this new €5 million package, the EU will provide naval maintenance training and related support (workshops, consumables) to restore the operational capabilities of Congolese patrol boats. The EU will also replace or supplement equipment used at sea for surveillance, communication and operational purposes. This package will be coherent with EU member states’ navies’ deployments in the Gulf of Guinea as part of the Coordinated Maritime Presences to increase maritime situation awareness and support the prevention of illegal activities at sea. Today’s decision complements two other assistance measures worth €21 million and €5 million adopted on 27 November 2023 and 13 June 2024 respectively, with the aim of enhancing the capabilities of the navies of Ghana, Cameroon and Benin, in support of their commitment to the Yaoundé Architecture and maritime security in the Gulf of Guinea. BackgroundThe European Peace Facility was established in March 2021 to finance EU external actions with military or defence implications, with the aim of preventing conflict, preserving peace and strengthening international security and stability. In particular, the EPF allows the EU to finance actions designed to strengthen the capacities of third states and regional and international organizations as regards military and defence matters. |
| ● Council of the EU | | | 05/11/2024 15:53 | Press release | | | | | The Council today adopted changes to the EU legal framework on the development, production and dissemination of European statistics, marking a significant milestone in the modernisation of the European Statistical System. The Council also approved conclusions on EU statistics that welcome progress made on keeping comparable and reliable statistics for better policy-making, and provide guidance for further work in this field. A statistical framework fit for the futureThe revised regulation lays the foundations to make European statistics fit for the future by ensuring a sustained access to data held by businesses and public administrations for statistical purposes. It will allow the European Statistical System to tap the potential of digital data sources and technologies to satisfy increasing demands for new, more granular and timelier statistics and to be more responsive while at the same time reducing the reporting burden. The revised regulation also establishes a mechanism for the statistical response to crisis situations, ensuring timely and effective data collection during times of need. Conclusions on statisticsIn its conclusions, the Council welcomes the progress related to information requirements in European Monetary Union, statistics on the excessive deficit procedure, surveillance of macroeconomic imbalances and structural statistics, highlighting areas of improvement. The conclusions welcome the revision of Regulation 223/2009 on European Statistics and the improvements made in the 2024 Economic and Financial Committee status report on information requirements in the European Monetary Union. The Council also welcomes additional statistics to implement the new European economic governance framework and encourages their further development and publication. In its conclusions, the Council further addresses the developments made in collecting energy statistics and demographic and social statistics, innovative statistical techniques for business data, the monitoring of the implementation of the sustainable development goals at EU level, and the work of the European Statistical System to develop and improve commercial real estate statistics. |
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| ● Council of the EU | | | 05/11/2024 13:45 | Press release | | | | | Today, the Council formally adopted the amended regulation on European environmental economic accounts, the EU’s common statistical system which brings together economic and environmental information. The new rules extend the scope of the European environmental economic accounts, introducing forest accounts, ecosystem accounts, and environmental subsidies accounts. The amended regulation aims to provide better information for the European Green Deal, in order to support monitoring and evaluation of the EU’s progress in meeting its environmental objectives.
New account modules The current regulation on European environmental economic accounts sets out a common framework for collecting, compiling, transmitting and evaluating European environmental economic accounts. The regulation contains six modules, including air emissions accounts and environmentally related taxes. Relevant and detailed data from member states is key to keeping the EU on track to meet the European Green Deal objectives. Therefore, the new regulation introduces three new environmental account modules for more comprehensive monitoring: - ecosystem accounts, which provide data on the extent and condition of ecosystems and on the services delivered to society and the economy by ecosystem assets
- forest accounts, which specifically measure forest areas and the share available for timber extraction, and trace changes over time
- environmental subsidies, which identify and quantify resources that support the Green Deal through economic activities and products, protecting the environment and safeguarding natural resources
Member states will start reporting these data to the Commission (Eurostat) in 2025 and 2026. Statistical data portal The amended regulation introduces a new statistical data portal (statistical dashboard) for environmental economic accounts, which will summarise the key indicators and data from those accounts in an understandable and accessible way for all users. It will also contain data on climate change mitigation investments by member states. The data portal will be operated by the Commission (Eurostat) from December 2024 and will be updated once a year. It will be publicly available on the Eurostat website. Next stepsThis formal adoption marks the last step in the ordinary legislative procedure. The regulation will now be published in the Official Journal of the European Union and will enter into force 20 days after its publication. By 31 December 2024 and at least every two years thereafter, Eurostat will publish data and statistics on climate change mitigation, including on related investments. Within two years from the date of entry into force of the regulation, the Commission will present a report on the quality of the data available on energy subsidies, including fossil fuel subsidies, on climate change adaptation and on water, and may submit a legislative proposal to introduce a further three new modules on these issues. BackgroundThe current regulation on environmental economic accounts already includes six modules: air emissions accounts, environmental taxes by economic activity, economy-wide material flow accounts, environmental protection expenditure accounts, environmental goods and services sector accounts, and physical energy flow accounts. The existing rules provided for new modules to be introduced later based on Commission proposals; on 11 July 2022, the Commission adopted the relevant proposal. On 15 December 2022, the Council agreed on its negotiating mandate. After one trilogue on 5 December 2023 and several technical meetings, the European Parliament and the Council agreed on the final shape of the regulation. |
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| ● Council of the EU | | | 05/11/2024 13:42 | Press release | | | | | Today, the Council gave the final green light for a revised EU directive on urban wastewater treatment. The revised directive extends the scope to smaller agglomerations, covers more pollutants, including micropollutants, and contributes to energy neutrality. The new rules are one of the key deliverables under the EU’s zero-pollution action plan. More agglomerations and more pollutants coveredAccording to the revised directive, member states must collect and treat wastewater from all agglomerations above 1 000 population equivalents – a measurement used to calculate urban wastewater pollution – according to EU minimum standards (instead of the threshold of 2 000 population equivalents set in the previous rules). To better tackle the pollution and to prevent discharges of untreated urban wastewater into the environment, all agglomerations between 1 000 and 2 000 population equivalents need to be provided with collecting systems and all sources of domestic wastewater need to be connected to these systems by 2035. For such agglomerations, by 2035 member states will have to remove biodegradable organic matter from urban wastewater (secondary treatment) before it is discharged into the environment. Derogations will apply to member states where the coverage of the collecting systems is very low and therefore would require significant investments. Member states that have joined the EU more recently and have already made more recent significant investments to implement the current directive (i.e. Romania, Bulgaria and Croatia) can also benefit from derogations. By 2039, the removal of nitrogen and phosphorus (tertiary treatment) will be mandatory for urban wastewater treatment plants treating urban wastewater with a load of 150 000 population equivalents and above. For those urban wastewater treatment plants, by 2045 member states will have to apply an additional treatment to remove micropollutants, known as quaternary treatment. Micropollutants Producers of pharmaceuticals and cosmetics – the main source of micropollutants in urban wastewater – will need to contribute a minimum of 80% of the additional costs for the quaternary treatment, through an extended producer responsibility (EPR) scheme and in accordance with the ‘polluter pays’ principle. Towards energy neutralityThe urban wastewater treatment sector could play an important role in significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions and helping the EU achieve its climate neutrality objective. The new rules introduce an energy neutrality target, meaning that by 2045 urban wastewater treatment plants treating a load of 10 000 population equivalents and above will have to use energy from renewable sources generated by the respective plants. Next stepsThis formal adoption today marks the final step in the ordinary legislative procedure. The directive will now be signed and published in the Official Journal of the EU. It will enter into force on the 20th day following publication. EU member states will then have up to 31 months to adapt their national legislation to take account of the new rules (‘transpose the directive’). BackgroundThe urban wastewater treatment directive was adopted in 1991. The objective of this directive was to ‘protect the environment from adverse effects of wastewater discharges from urban sources and specific industries’. The Commission conducted an evaluation of the directive in 2019. The evaluation confirmed that the previous directive had proven highly effective in reducing water pollution and improving the treatment of wastewater discharges over the last three decades. However, it also showed that there were still sources of pollution that were not yet being adequately addressed by the existing rules. These included pollution from smaller agglomerations and a broad spectrum of harmful micropollutants. Additionally, the evaluation highlighted the urban wastewater sector as one of the largest consumers of energy in the public sector. The Commission submitted its proposal for a revised directive on 26 October 2022. The two co‑legislators reached an agreement on the final shape of the text on 29 January 2024. |
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| ● Council of the EU | | | 05/11/2024 13:34 | Press release | | | | | In 2023, the European Union and its 27 member states contributed €28.6 billion in climate finance from public sources and mobilised an additional amount of €7.2 billion of private finance to support developing countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change. The Council published the figures today, in preparation for the United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP29), which will take place from 11 to 22 November in Baku, Azerbaijan. The figures are based on the EU climate finance reporting rules laid down in the governance regulation. According to data compiled by the European Commission, approximately half of the public climate funding for developing countries has been directed to climate adaptation or to cross-cutting action (involving both climate change mitigation and adaptation initiatives). Grant based finance represents a significant share (almost 50%) in the EU and member states public contribution. At the same time, the EU actively seeks to extend the range and impact of sources and financial instruments and to mobilise more private finance, all being major tools to support international climate action. This way, the EU will continue to help developing countries to implement the 2015 Paris climate change agreement. The 2023 figures reconfirm the EU and its member states resolute efforts for delivering on their international climate finance commitments, particularly towards the developed countries' collective goal of mobilising $ 100 billion per year, which is applicable through to 2025. BackgroundThe €28.6 billion in climate finance from public budgets includes €3.2 billion from the EU budget, including from the European Fund for Sustainable Development Plus, and €2.6 billion from the European Investment Bank. The overall public figure is calculated based on commitments for bilateral and disbursements of multilateral finance reported for calendar year 2023. The €7.2 billion figure regards the private financial support mobilised through public interventions (e.g., guarantees, syndicated loans, direct investment in companies, credit lines, etc.). It does not include any amounts of the public finance utilised for the mobilisation of this private financial support. EU member states reported data on the 2023 climate finance pursuant to article 19.3 of regulation (EU) 2018/1999 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2018 (‘governance regulation’) and article 6 and annexes III-V of Commission implementing regulation 2020/1208. |
| ● Council of the EU | | | 05/11/2024 12:29 | Press release | | | | | The Council today approved the Commission’s positive assessment of the Netherlands’ and Czechia’s amended recovery and resilience plans. According to the analysis of the Commission, the targeted modifications put forward by both member states do not affect the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency and coherence of their recovery and resilience plans. NetherlandsOn 16 September 2024 the Netherlands submitted targeted amendments to its recovery and resilience plan. The plan is worth €5.4 billion in grants and loans. CzechiaOn 13 September 2024, Czechia submitted targeted amendments to its recovery and resilience plan. The plan is worth € 9.2 billion in grants and loans. BackgroundThe RRF is the EU’s large-scale financial support programme in response to the challenges the COVID-19 pandemic has posed to the European economy. It is the centrepiece of NextGenerationEU, a temporary recovery instrument that allows the Commission to raise funds to help repair the immediate economic and social damage caused by the pandemic. To benefit from the facility, member states must submit recovery and resilience plans (RRPs) to the Commission, setting out the reforms and investments they intend to implement by the end of 2026. So far, €648 billion have been committed to this end. To date, all RRPs have been approved, 70 payment requests have been received and €268 billion have been disbursed. |
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| ● Council of the EU | | | 05/11/2024 12:16 | Press release | | | | | The Council has given the final green light to an EU law that regulates the conditions under which proceedings in a criminal case initiated in one member state may be transferred to another member state. The law will be critical in ensuring that the best-placed country investigates or prosecutes a criminal offence. It also prevents unnecessary parallel proceedings (of the same suspect) in different EU member states and therefore will help to fight cross-border crime more effectively. “The fight against cross-border crime needs EU member states to work together. Making sure that the best-placed member state will be in charge of a criminal investigation is of crucial importance in this respect.” | | — Bence Tuzson, Hungarian Minister of Justice |
The rules which were adopted today will also improve the respect of fundamental rights of the suspect or accused in the process of transferring criminal proceedings from one country to another. Common rules for the transfer of proceedingsUnder the new law, the authorities of a country will decide to request the transfer of proceedings (to another member state) on the basis of a list of criteria. These include that the criminal offence has been committed on the territory of the member state to which the proceedings are to be transferred or one or more suspects or accused persons being present in that member state. Next stepsThe regulation will enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union. The regulation is directly applicable and will apply two years after it comes into force. BackgroundFuelled by the increase of cross-border crime, criminal justice in the EU is increasingly being confronted with situations where several member states have jurisdiction to prosecute the same case. The law which was adopted today is the first specific EU instrument regulating the transfer of proceedings. |
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| ● Council of the EU | | | 05/11/2024 11:24 | Press release | | | | | The Council has today adopted conclusions on the special report of the Court of Auditors on the EU’s industrial policy on renewable hydrogen. The conclusions welcome the report, call for swift implementation of the EU’s regulatory framework, encourage development of an interconnected transportation network and call on the Commission to take measures that support both the competitiveness of EU industry and security of investment. Milestones towards clean hydrogenThe Council conclusions adopted today follow an in-depth analysis of the Special Report on the EU’s industrial policy on renewable hydrogen. The report evaluates the Commission’ effectiveness in creating the right conditions for the emerging renewable and low-carbon hydrogen markets. The report assesses EU’s policy communications and legislative proposals (i.e. the Hydrogen Strategy of the EU, the REPowerEU Plan, the Renewable Energy Directive (RED III), the ReFuelEU Aviation Regulation, the FuelEU Maritime Regulation, the Net-Zero Industry Act and the Gas Package), as well as funding programmes aimed at developing the hydrogen value chain. The conclusions note that the Council and the Parliament have already adopted important legislative proposals (i.e. the Gas and Hydrogen Package and the Net-Zero Industry Act), which will help the EU reach its energy and climate objectives and strengthen the competitiveness of the EU’s strategic net-zero industry. However, for these legislative acts to contribute to the emergence of the European hydrogen ecosystem, it is important that the existing legal framework is implemented swiftly. The conclusions attach particular importance to Member States’ national energy and climate plans when considering EU-level targets for the production and import of hydrogen. According to the conclusions adopted today, the interconnection of European networks will be of great importance for facilitating cross-border hydrogen transportation and storage, and for linking producers and buyers. The conclusions urge the Commission to consider the recommendations of the European Court of Auditors’ report and to follow up with coherent actions, while striking the right balance between ensuring a competitive edge for European industry on the one hand and investor security on the other. BackgroundWhen the European Court of Auditors publishes a special report, the Council drafts conclusions with a view to finding solutions to the problems raised. The European Court of Auditors’ special report entitled ‘The EU’s industrial policy on renewable hydrogen - Legal framework has been mostly adopted - time for a reality check’ was adopted on 17 July 2024. |
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| ● Council of the EU | | | 05/11/2024 12:05 | Press release | | | | | The Council today reached an agreement on new measures that will bring the EU’s value added tax (VAT) rules into the digital age. With new rules on electronic invoices and real-time data reporting, as well as business carried out through digital platforms, this package of legislation will fight tax fraud, support businesses and promote digitalisation. “After almost two years of negotiations, the Council has reached an agreement on the VAT package. This is a cornerstone for the digital transition and a significant step in improving the competitiveness of the EU. The new rules will update our VAT systems to reflect the digitalisation of our economies, help combat VAT fraud, and ease administrative obligations for small companies and individual service providers. Today’s decision was preceded by intense discussions led by the Hungarian presidency; thus, we are grateful to all delegations for their constructive approach and hard work.” | | — Mihály Varga, Hungarian minister for finance |
The agreement covers three acts – a directive, a regulation and an implementing regulation – which taken together bring about changes to three different aspects of the VAT system. The new rules will: - make VAT reporting obligations for cross-border transactions fully digital by 2030
- require online platforms to pay VAT on short-term accommodation and passenger transport services in most cases where individual service providers do not charge VAT
- improve and expand online VAT one-stop-shops so that businesses do not have to go through costly registrations for VAT in every member state in which they do business
Digital VAT reportingCurrently, businesses are asked every few months to submit to their national tax authorities ‘recapitulative statements' of goods and services sold to businesses in other EU member states which are taxable in those member states. This opens up a gap for fraudsters to exploit the difficulty authorities face in rapidly detecting suspicious or fraudulent transactions, since the data is incomplete and not available in real-time. The Council now agreed that a real-time digital reporting system will be set up for VAT purposes through e-invoices. Businesses will issue e-invoices for cross-border business-to-business transactions and automatically report the data to their tax administration. This will be based on the existing European standard for e-invoicing in the area of public procurement. National tax administrations will then share the data through a new IT system that will be capable of providing analyses of suspicious activities. A framework at national level will ensure the quality of the data included in electronic invoices, with flexibility for member states in the operationalisation of that framework. This will provide member states with quick and complete information on cross-border transactions that they can use to fight VAT fraud. The Council agreed that the EU system should be in place in 2030 and that all existing national systems should become interoperable with the EU system by 2035. VAT for the platform economyCurrently, many providers of online accommodation rental and passenger transport services do not pay VAT. This is mainly because they tend to be either individual providers (such as a driver or a person renting out their apartment) or small businesses, who are usually not required to register for VAT or are often simply unaware of their obligations, or of tax compliance rules in other member states. This leads to large amounts of VAT not being collected and sometimes to unfair competition between traditional accommodation and transport services and those operating through platforms. Under the new rules, platform economy operators will be responsible for collecting and remitting VAT, in cases where their service providers do not pay VAT themselves (under the so-called ‘deemed supplier’ model). The platform will collect the VAT directly from the customer and remit it to the tax authorities. The Council provided member states with greater flexibility by expanding the definition of short-term accommodation rental for tax purposes and giving member states the possibility to exempt small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from the deemed supplier rules. The Council also agreed on a short transition period for applying the deemed supplier rules. One-stop shop for VAT registrationFor the moment, a system of ‘one-stop shops’ allows businesses to declare and remit the VAT due on their sales of goods and services to consumers from one EU country to another, through one member state’s administration and in one language. However, companies that want to sell goods to consumers within a member state other than their own (i.e. from a warehouse or a weekly market in that member state) still need to register for VAT purposes twice. Therefore, the new rules will now extend the scope of the existing ‘one stop shops’ to business-to-consumer sales of certain items, like electricity or gas, which are conducted within a member state other than their own - not just cross-border supplies. This will include situations where companies simply want to move stock to another member state in order to sell it there directly to consumers at a later stage. This way, the expanded one-stop shop will allow even more businesses to fulfil their VAT obligations via a single online portal and in one language. The Council also agreed to shift the liability for the payment of VAT in business-to-business transactions from the supplier of a good or service to the buyer if that supplier is not established in the member state where the VAT is due (under the so-called ‘reverse charge mechanism’). This was already possible in some situations, but will become mandatory in the future. In contrast with the Commission’s proposal, the Council decided not to extend the existing deemed supplier provision –which places the responsibility for collecting VAT on platforms that facilitate transactions rather than on the underlying suppliers - to all goods supplied by online platforms and the transfers of own goods. It also agreed not to change the rules on works of art and antiques. The Council also decided to discuss the proposal to make the one-stop-shop for imports mandatory within the framework of the VAT aspects of the proposal to reform the Union Customs Code, which is currently under discussion in the Council. Background and next stepsOn 8 December 2022, the Commission presented the ‘VAT in the digital age’ package which consists of three proposals: - a proposal for a Council directive amending directive 2006/112/EC as regards VAT rules for the digital age;
- a proposal for a Council regulation amending regulation (EU) No 904/2010 as regards the VAT administrative cooperation arrangements needed for the digital age
- a proposal for a Council implementing regulation amending implementing regulation (EU) No 282/2011 as regards information requirements for certain VAT schemes
The directive and the regulation are subject to a special legislative procedure. Within the Council unanimity is required for all three legal acts. The European Parliament was consulted and delivered its opinion on 22 November 2023. However, due to substantial changes made by the Council in the directive, the European Parliament will be consulted again on the agreed text. The text will then need to be formally adopted by the Council before being published in the EU’s Official Journal and entering into force. |
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