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European Commission Spokesman's Briefing for 05-01-21
From: EUROPA, the European Commission Server at <http://europa.eu.int>
CONTENTS / CONTENU
[01] Commission requests phasing out of tax benefits for Exempt Companies
in Gibraltar
[02] Afrique : la Commission adopte une série de mesures d'aide
humanitaire d'un montant supérieur à 80 millions d'€
[03] EU-Andean Community : regional integration assessment launched
[04] László Kovács meets Norwegian Finance Minister Per-Kristian Foss
[05] Benita Ferrero-Waldner at inauguration of President Yushchenko
[06] Olli Rehn to visit Pristina and Belgrade
[07] Tender for the export of wheat with refunds opened
[08] Structure of government debt in the EU : in most EU Member States,
central government debt is more than 80% of total government debt ;
securities are the most used instrument
[09] Autre matériel diffusé
Midday Express of 2005-01-21
Reference: MEX/05/0121
Date: 21/01/2005
EXME05 / 21.1
MIDDAY EXPRESS
News from the Press and Communication Directorate General's midday briefing
Nouvelles du rendez-vous de midi de la Direction Général Presse etb
Communication
21/01/05
[01] Commission requests phasing out of tax benefits for Exempt Companies
in Gibraltar
The European Commission has formally requested the United Kingdom to
abolish the Exempt Company tax regime in Gibraltar by the end of 2010 at
the latest because the scheme violates the EC Treaty's ban on state aid
liable to distort competition. By this request, which takes the form of a
"recommendation" and follows extensive negotiations, the Commission intends
to put a definitive end to the last offshore tax regime in Gibraltar. The
United Kingdom has one month to formally accept these appropriate measures,
failing which the Commission may open a formal state aids investigation.
Under the regime, an Exempt Company pays no income tax on its profits but
instead pays only a low, fixed annual tax.
[02] Afrique : la Commission adopte une série de mesures d'aide
humanitaire d'un montant supérieur à 80 millions d'€
La Commission européenne a adopté une série de mesures d'aide
humanitaire en faveur des victimes des crises de longue durée qui
affectent l'Afrique. Parmi les pays concernés figurent ceux d'Afrique
occidentale côtière (€31,3 millions), l'Ouganda (€20,62 millions), le
Burundi (€20,99 millions) et la Tanzanie (€13,5 millions). Les projets
envisagés seront exécutés par les organismes humanitaires qui
interviennent dans les régions cibles. Les ressources sont gérées par
l'Office d'aide humanitaire de la Commission européenne (ECHO), sous la
responsabilité du Commissaire chargé du développement et de l'aide
humanitaire, M. Louis Michel.
[03] EU-Andean Community : regional integration assessment launched
The European Union-Andean Community Joint Committee is meeting today in
Brussels to launch a joint assessment of regional integration in the Andean
Community (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela). The intention
of both parties is that this assessment should lead, in due course, to
negotiations between the EU and the Andean Community with a view to
concluding an Association Agreement. Other important topics to be raised
include social cohesion, economic and trade issues, with a particular
emphasis on the newly proposed Generalised System of Preferences "GSP+" and
the preparation of future programming.
See <a href="http://europa.eu.int/comm/external_relations/andean/intro/index.htm">http://europa.eu.int/comm/external_relations/andean/intro/index.htm
[04] László Kovács meets Norwegian Finance Minister Per-Kristian Foss
On Friday 21 January, European Commissioner for Taxation and Customs
Lászlό Kovács will meet the Norwegian Finance Minister Per-Kristian Foss
to exchange information and views on tax issues, including EU company
taxation and Value-Added Tax, the implications of the EEA (European
Economic Area) Treaty for tax purposes and the activities of the EFTA
Surveillance Authority in this context, and the Norwegian tax reform plans.
[05] Benita Ferrero-Waldner at inauguration of President Yushchenko
European Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighbourhood
Policy, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, will attend the inauguration of President
Yushchenko in Kiev on Sunday. The new President is taking office after a
repeat second round of the elections which international observers noted
had brought Ukraine "substantially closer" to international standards for
free and fair elections. The European Commission is fully committed to
working with the new President to significantly deepen the relationship
between the EU and Ukraine both politically and economically, under the
European Neighbourhood Policy. This will include the Commission's strong
and sustained support to President Yushchenko's agenda of broad and deep
political and economic reforms. A new Action Plan negotiated with Ukraine
was approved by the Commission and the Council last December. Now that
democratic elections have taken place it will be possible to launch the
implementation of that plan, as soon as the final procedural steps have
been taken.
[06] Olli Rehn to visit Pristina and Belgrade
The European Commissioner for Enlargement, Olli Rehn, will visit Pristina
and Belgrade on 24 and 25 January 2005. The Commissioner will discuss key
issues concerning the European integration of Serbia and Montenegro with
the political leaders and with representatives of the international
community. He will bring the message of a clear European perspective for
the countries of the Western Balkans, and will emphasis the importance of
regional cooperation.
[07] Tender for the export of wheat with refunds opened
The cereals management committee yesterday gave a positive opinion on a
Commission Regulation opening a tender for the granting of refunds for the
export of 2 million tons of wheat from the free market. When the tender is
running, it will be the first time refunds will be granted for the export
of wheat since June 2003. Export refunds are one of the tools the
Commission has at its disposal to manage the cereals market. They will
allow EU exporters to be present on the market in the current exceptional
circumstances. The EU had a very large wheat harvest in 2004 (125 million
tons compared to 98 million tons in 2003) and EU exporters are having
increasing difficulties competing on the world market because of the recent
considerable fall in the value of the dollar – in which cereals prices
are quoted - compared to the euro. The alternative would have been a rapid
build-up in intervention stocks which could not be avoided because the EU
is obliged to buy the quantities that are offered into intervention.
However this would have been considerably more expensive not least because
these stocks cannot be disposed of in the foreseeable future. The granting
of export refunds in no way lessens the EU's commitment in the Doha
Development Agenda to phase out refunds, on condition that its trading
partners follow suit and phase out their export support as well.
[08] Structure of government debt in the EU : in most EU Member States,
central government debt is more than 80% of total government debt ;
securities are the most used instrument
Even if the level of government debt expressed as a percentage of GDP
differs significantly from one Member State to another, the structure of
debt presents some common features in most Member States. In general,
central government debt accounts for more than 80% of the total government
debt and most Member States finance more than 70% of their debt by issuing
securities. This information comes from a report released today by
Eurostat. This report, based on a survey of the structure of government
debt, provides information on general government debt broken down by sub-
sector, financial instrument, debt holder, maturity, currency of issue,
state guarantees and other features.
[09] Autre matériel diffusé
Note sur la préparation du Conseil Agriculture/Pêche de janvier 2005
Speech by Mariann Fischer Boel : "Sustainable Agriculture and Innovation
– Chance and Challenge for Policy and Society" at Ost-West-Agrarforum /
Green Week (Berlin, ! embargo 22/01 at 10h00 !)
Calendrier du 24 au 28 janvier 2005
From EUROPA, the European Commission Server at http://europa.eu.int/
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