Video conference of economics and finance ministers, 1 December 2020

Summary:

EU Ministers responsible for financial and economic matters (ECOFIN) held a videoconference on 1 December 2020. The agenda included the following items:

• Briefing on the agreement reached at technical level on proposed amendments to Council Directive on administrative cooperation in the field of taxation (DAC 7);
• Briefing on the progress in strengthening the Banking Union on the basis of a report prepared by the Council Presidency;
• Briefing on draft Council conclusions related to the European Commission's New Action Plan on the Capital Markets Union (CMU);
• Presentation by the European Commission of the following documents in the framework of the European Semester 2021:
  • Alert Mechanism Report;
  • Draft Council Recommendation on the economic policies of the Euro area;
  • Assessement of the economic and fiscal situation based on the Autumn 2020 economic forecast;
• Briefing on the G20 finance ministers' and central bank governors' meeting in November 2020;
• Exchange of views on the Council conclusions on international debt relief;
• Discussion on international taxation, which also features in Council conclusions on fair and effective taxation;
• Briefing on ongoing legislative procedures concerning proposals in the field of financial services;
• Presentation by the European Court of Auditors (ECA) of its annual report on the implementation of the 2019 EU budget;
• Presentation by the Italian delegation of the country's priorities for its G20 Presidency in 2021.

Official

General Secretariat of the Council: Background Brief for Video conference of economics and finance ministers, 1 December 2020 https://www.consilium.europa.eu/media/46945/201201_ecofin-background-note-for-the-press_final.pdf

European Commission: Remarks by Executive Vice-President Dombrovskis at the ECOFIN press conference (1 December 2020) https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/speech_20_2278

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