Economic and Financial Affairs Council, 6 December 2016

A meeting of the Economic and Financial Affairs Council was held on 6 December 2016. The agenda includes the following topics:

+ Agreement on the Council's negotiating position regarding a draft regulation expanding the European fund for strategic investments;

+ Adoption of conclusions regarding a number of issues affecting investment in the European Union as identified by the Economic Policy Committee, feeding into the recommendations to the member states in the framework of the European Semester eg. Bottlenecks to Investment;

+ Exchange of views on the progress achieved regarding a proposal on a financial transaction tax in 10 member states, which signalled the willingness to introduce it into their national law and worked on the draft text under the 'enhanced cooperation procedure';

+ Adoption of conclusions on a Communication from the European Commission on the EU's corporate tax system;

+ Agreement on the Council's approach on the proposal to amend the anti-tax avoidance directive;

+ Briefing by the Council presidency on the progress in technical discussions on the proposal to establish a European Deposit Insurance Scheme;

+ Presentation from the Commission on a package of proposals to further reduce risks in the EU's banking sector;

+ Briefing on the implementation of the banking union legislation;

+ Exchange of views on the Commission's presentation of the Annual Growth Survey for 2017 and a draft Council recommendation on the economic policies of the Eurozone member states, laying out the basis for the 2017 European Semester.

European Commission: DG Communication: SPEECH/16/4295, 08.12.16: Remarks by Vice-President Dombrovskis at the ECOFIN press conference http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_SPEECH-16-4295_en.htm

ESO: Background information: Economic and Financial Affairs Council, 16 November 2016 http://www.europeansources.info/record/economic-and-financial-affairs-council-16-november-2016/

---