Romania’s Finance Minister Marcel Bolos is participating today in a meeting of the EU’s Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN), which takes place in Brussels.

According to the European Council, featuring on the agenda of the meeting are: VAT in the digital age; the Recovery and Resilience Facility; Russia’s aggression against Ukraine; annual reporting; EU statistics; international meetings; climate finance; financial services.

Thus, the council will seek a political agreement on a package of legislation on value added tax (VAT) in the digital age. The package consists of three proposals that set out to tackle VAT fraud, support businesses and promote digitalisation.

Ministers will take stock of the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), and the Council is expected to adopt implementing decisions approving modified recovery and resilience plans, submitted by some member states.

The EU ministers of economy and finance will also be informed of the state of play of the economic and financial impact of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.

The council will hold an exchange of views on the 2024 annual report of the European Fiscal Board (EFB) in the presence of the EFB Chair, Niels Thygesen.

The council will also approve conclusions on the progress made on the EU’s statistical priorities, while providing guidance for further work. As a point without discussion, the Council will also adopt a regulation that aims to further improve the development, production and dissemination of European statistics.

The council and the European Commission will debrief ministers on the main results of the G20 finance ministers and central bank governors meeting that took place on 23-24 October 2024 in Washington.

On the other hand, the council is expected to publish the 2023 international climate finance figures.

The Presidency will present the state of play of legislative proposals in the field of financial services. Ministers will also be informed of the state of play in implementing EU legislation in the field of financial services. These are recurrent items on the ECOFIN agenda.

As a point without discussion, the council will adopt two pieces of legislation that change the Solvency II directive, the EU’s main piece of legislation in the insurance area, and introduce new rules on insurance recovery and resolution (IRRD).

AGERPRES