Press room 

Ministers outlined the priorities of the French Presidency of the Council of the EU to parliamentary committees, in a series of meetings.

MEPs called for a reset of outdated international tax rules, including the setting of a minimum effective corporate tax rate and that the EU should go it alone if global negotiations fail.

Firms would be taxed where they earn their profits under new proposals for a harmonised corporate tax system which also considers their online activities to calculate their tax.

MEPs gave the green light to the Recovery and Resilience Facility, which is the EU’s most important tool to fight the economic and social consequences of the pandemic.

Siegfried MUREŞAN, Eider GARDIAZABAL RUBIAL and Dragoș PÎSLARU will hold a press conference on Friday 13 November at 13:00 on the Recovery and Resilience Facility.

Parliament and Council reached a preliminary agreement on Wednesday on a new EU instrument to support investment and access to finance from 2021 to 2027.

MEPs quizzed ECB President Christine Lagarde for the first time since the pandemic and the German constitutional court’s ruling on the ECB’s bondbuying programme.

A negotiating brief on the “Juncker” plan for a European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) to guarantee growth and job-creating investment was backed by the Budgets and Economic and Monetary Affairs committees on Monday evening. But MEPs contested plans to feed the fund from the EU research and transport investment budgets, and called for more parliamentary control over its leadership and goals.

Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee MEPs voiced concerns about the internal market during a debate with Commission Executive Vice-President Vestager on Monday.

ECB President Christine Lagarde, on Thursday fielded questions from the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee on the review of the bank’s monetary policy.

EP negotiating team reached a deal with the Council on Wednesday on EU-wide rules to help crowdfunding services function smoothly and foster cross-border business funding.

On Monday evening, EP and Council negotiators struck a deal on the new InvestEU programme, which supports investments and guarantees simplified access to financing.

In a bid to shed light on the often opaque world of aggressive tax planning, intermediaries may soon be required to report aggressive, cross-border tax schemes to authorities.

MEPs and members of national parliaments kicked off their two-day yearly gathering on Tuesday, dedicated to discussing EU economic governance.

MEPs back Spanish finance minister Luis De Guindos’ appointment as European Central Bank Vice-President, but demand improvements to the nomination process.

EU citizens could access registers of beneficial owners of companies without having to demonstrate a “legitimate interest,” and trusts would have to meet the same transparency requirements as firms, under amendments, agreed by MEPs on Tuesday, to the EU Anti-Money Laundering Directive.

The Economic and Monetary Affairs committee on Monday proposed widening the scope of the directives on the taxation of digital businesses operating in the EU.

In a bid to shed light on the true ownership of letterbox companies, any citizen will, in future, be able to access data about the beneficial owners of firms which operate in the EU.

Parliament negotiators reached an agreement with Council on Monday on new criteria to determine whether an economic activity is environmentally sustainable.

On Monday, MEPs adopted the Recovery and Resilience Facility, an instrument designed to help EU countries tackling the effects and consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.