COMBATING FRAUD: THE LEGAL PROTECTION OF THE
COMMUNITIES' INTERESTS
The Council established that there was broad political
agreement on the Regulation on the legal protection of the Communities'
financial interests on the basis of a general compromise produced
by highly intensive discussions in the Permanent Representatives
Committee.
Certain aspects of the text, however, still have
to be made specific. The Council instructed the Permanent Representatives
Committee to finalize the provisions in question so that the Regulation
could be adopted at the Council's meeting on 19 June.
This Regulation is a response to the need, stressed
on a number of occasions by the Council and also highlighted by
the European Council in Essen on 9 and 10 April 1994,
to improve the effectiveness and the equivalence of the supervisory
mechanisms and the systems of administrative penalties in the
various fields covered by the Community budget.
It emphasizes the Community's determination to combat
fraud, waste and the poor management of Community funds with the
greatest vigour.
INVESTORCOMPENSATION SCHEMES
The Council reached political agreement by a qualified
majority, the German delegation voting against, on a common position
on the Directive on investorcompensation schemes. When
the text has been finalized technically and linguistically it
will be formally adopted at a forthcoming Council meeting so that
it can be sent to the European Parliament under the joint decisiontaking
procedure.
The principal aim of this Directive is the completion
and satisfactory operation of the single market in investment
services:
- by providing for minimum compensation for investors
to apply throughout the Community in the event of the failure
of an investment firm where that firm is unable to return to investors
the funds or the securities that belong to them and
- by introducing a necessary complement to the singleauthorization
system by making investorcompensation mechanisms subject
to the supervisory arrangements of home countries.
Under the draft Directive, cover should not be less
than ECU 20 000 for each investor. It may, however,
be less - although it must not be less than ECU 15 000
- until 31 December 1999 in those Member States that
at present apply cover of less than ECU 20 000.
The draft Directive is aligned on Directive 94/19/EC
on depositguarantee schemes, which introduced a system to
protect credit institutions' depositors in the event of financial
crises.
It is planned that once the Directive is adopted
it will enter into force eighteen months after its publication.
TRANSEUROPEAN NETWORKS
The Council took note of the details that Commissioner KINNOCK
provided on the progress of the priority projects defined in the
conclusions of the European Council meeting in Essen and of their
financing requirements.
The Council agreed to return to this matter at its
forthcoming meeting in June with a view to preparing the proceedings
of the European Council meeting in Cannes. To that end it asked
the Commission to prepare a specific timetable - project by project
- for the financing.
MACROFINANCIAL LOANS TO UKRAINE - the Council's
conclusions
1. The Council noted with satisfaction the continuing
efforts towards macroeconomic adjustment and structural reforms
in Ukraine under the standby arrangement agreed with the
International Monetary Fund last April.
The Council also expressed satisfaction with the
undertakings made by President Kuchma on closing the nuclear
plant in Chernobyl before the year 2000 and noted the timetable
published by the Ukrainian authorities on 19 May 1995.
2. The Commission therefore considered that the conditions
for the payment of the macrofinancial assistance of ECU 85 million
which the Council decided last December had been met.
The Council agreed with the Commission.
3. The Council gave sympathetic consideration to
a new macrofinancial loan, the amount of the two loans together
being up to one third of the bilateral assistance announced and
no more than one third, i.e. ECU 285 million, of the
estimated financing requirement.
The new loan would be paid in two tranches.
The first tranche will be for an amount of ECU 100 million.
The amount of the second tranche will be decided by the Council,
provided a satisfactory sharing of the burden can be arranged.
Given the significance of the nuclear question for
both the Union and Ukraine, implementation of the loan will be
linked to the Council's establishing that progress has been made
on this point. Following consultation with the Monetary Committee,
the Council will take a decision on the payment of the two tranches
of the operation.
AGRIMONETARY SYSTEM
By a qualified majority, the United Kingdom voting
against, the Council adopted a Regulation amending the number
of additional reference periods in the context of the agrimonetary
system.
The adoption of this Regulation makes it possible
to continue the observation of the money market until 25 June
next with a view to establishing whether the trend in the change
of exchange rates is permanent. The continuation of those observation
periods after 25 May - the date of expiry of the present
rules - means that no reduction in the agricultural exchange rates
may be made before the Council's meeting on Agriculture on 29
and 30 May next on the new agrimonetary system proposed by
the Commission.
SPRING 1995 MACROECONOMIC FORECASTS
The Council took note of Commissioner SILGUY's presentation of the Commission communication on the Community's economic perspectives 1995/1996 (spring 1995 forecasts). That communication included the most recent forecasts concerning the most important
indicators of economic developments in the European
Union.
FINANCIAL PERSPECTIVE
The Council heard statements by several delegations
asking the Commission for additional information concerning the
trends of budgetary expenditure under headings 3 (Internal policies)
and 4 (External actions) of the Financial Perspective.
CO2/ENERGY TAX
The Council heard an oral presentation by Commissioner MONTI
of the amended proposal for a Directive on the introduction of
a CO2/energy tax that the Commission had just adopted.
A brief exchange of views on the subject afforded
certain delegations an opportunity of expressing their initial
reactions to the proposal.
By way of conclusion the Council instructed the appropriate
Council bodies to examine the proposal.
PROGRESS REPORT ON STATISTICS
With a view to a substantive debate at its forthcoming
meeting on 19 June the Council took note of the progress
made on the four economicstatistics proposals, namely those
for
- a Regulation on a European system of national and
regional accounts in the European Community;
- a Regulation on harmonized consumer price indices;
- the amendment of Council Decision 91/115/EEC
establishing a committee on monetary, financial and balance of
payments statistics;
- a Regulation on Community action in the field of
statistics.
Those texts, especially that on the harmonization
of consumer price indices, are of particular importance in the
completion of economic and monetary union. In that context the
Council instructed the Permanent Representatives Committee to
complete the proceedings on the latter text so that it could be
approved at the Council's forthcoming meeting on 19 June.
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EUROPEAN UNION/CCEE MINISTERIAL MEETING
In the afternoon a Ministerial meeting was held between
the European Union and the associated countries of Central and
Eastern Europe and the Baltic States. It was the first formal
meeting of Ministers for the Economy and Finance under the structured
dialogue defined by the European Council meeting in Essen.
There were two topics on the agenda, first those
countries' preparation for integration into the internal market
(the economic and financial field) and secondly the macroeconomic
aspects.
The first topic gave rise to a discussion of the
Commission white paper on those countries' integration into the
internal market and on the progress made in the approximation
of their laws to those of the EU in the field of economics and
finance.
The second topic allowed an exchange of information
on the basis of the Commission's spring forecasts and the CCEE
Ministers' statements on their respective countries' economic
situations.
OTHER DECISIONS
(Adopted without discussion. In the case of acts
of a legislative nature votes against and abstentions are indicated.)
Participation by the Community and the Member
States in the negotiations for a multilateral agreement on investment
in the framework of the OECD
Having established at its meeting on 10 April 1995
that the multilateral agreement on investment to be negotiated
in the OECD would include provisions within the purview of joint
national and Community bodies under the Treaty, the Council adopted
a Decision authorizing the Commission to take part in the negotiation
of that agreement in those areas that came within Community competence.
The precise details of the Community's and the Member
States' participation in those negotiations will be determined
before they start. As regards the areas within Community competence,
the Commission will negotiate on the basis of negotiating directives
that the Council will adopt on a Commission proposal.
Relations with the ACP States
The Council adopted a Decision on the conclusion
of an agreement between the EC and the ACP States on the accession
of the Republic of Zambia to Protocol No 8, on ACP sugar,
annexed to the Fourth ACPEEC Convention.
Under that agreement Zambia will not immediately
receive an exports quota but will take part in the redistribution
of quantities that may become available in future.
EC Investment Partners - the implementing Regulation
The Council adopted a common position on the Regulation
on the implementation of the European Communities Investment Partners
(ECIP) financial instrument for the countries of Latin America,
Asia, the Mediterranean region and South Africa. That common
position will be forwarded to the European Parliament under the
cooperation procedure.
A threeyear pilot experiment involving this
financial instrument was launched in 1988 and was subsequently
continued for a further three years starting on 1 January 1992.
The common position provides for the Community to
implement special forms of cooperation intended to promote investment
of mutual interest by Community operators within the framework
of economic cooperation with the countries of Latin America, Asia,
the Mediterranean region and South Africa during the period 1995
to 1999; that cooperation will take the form of joint ventures
with local operators in the countries eligible, including tripartite
projects involving other developing countries in order to promote
regional integration. Special attention will be given to small
and mediumsized undertakings.
The ECIP financial instrument will offer various
types of financing facilities in order to promote the creation
of joint undertakings between European firms and firms from certain
developing countries.
Finally, the common position provides that the financial
reference amount for the implementation of this programme in the
period 1995 to 1999 will be ECU 250 million.
Antidumping
The Council adopted:
- an amendment to Regulation No 3359/93 on antidumping
measures imposed on imports of ferrosilicon originating
in Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Venezuela
and Brazil.
Regulation No 3359/93 imposed a duty
of 25% on imports of ferrosilicon originating in Brazil,
with the exception of those from five specified exporters on whom
a lower rate was imposed. Further to the Commission's reviewing
the situations of two Brazilian companies, the Council adopted
an amendment concerning the imposition of individual antidumping
duties on imports of ferrosilicon produced by Libra Ligas
do Brasil and Nova Era Silicon S.A. in place of the general
antidumping duty of 25%.
The duty will be equal to the difference between
the net, free-atCommunityfrontier price before customs
clearance, and:
- ECU 849 per tonne in the case of Libra
Ligas do Brasil (additional Taric code: 8827) and
- ECU 885 per tonne in the case of Nova Era
Silicon S.A. (additional Taric code: 8828),
provided that the former price is lower than the
latter amounts;
- an amendment to Regulation (EC) No 2819/94
imposing a definitive antidumping duty on imports of potassium
permanganate originating in the People's Republic of China.
The purpose of this amendment is the explicit
repeal of Regulation (EC) No 1531/88, which has already been
implicitly replaced by Regulation No 2819/94 imposing a definitive
antidumping duty on imports of potassium permanganate originating
in China;
- an amendment to Regulation (EEC) No 2271/94
imposing a definitive countervailing duty on imports of ball bearings
with a greatest external diameter not exceeding 30 mm, originating
in Thailand but exported to the Community from another country.
Further to the Commission's recalculation of the
amount of the subsidy granted to Thai exporters amounting to 0,66 baht
an item, the Council has amended the definitive countervailing
duty - expressed as a percentage of the net, free-atCommunityfrontier
price of the product - on indirect imports and reduced it from
the lower level of 5,3% to a level equivalent to that of the new
rate of export tax, which corresponds to a 4,8% ad valorem duty;
- an amendment to Regulation (EEC) No 830/92
imposing a definitive antidumping duty on imports of certain
polyester yarns (manmade staple fibres) originating in Indonesia
and in several other countries.
On the conclusion of a review of the provisions
of the Regulation on imports from Indonesia, the Council repealed
the duty in the case of certain companies, namely PT Kewalram
Indonesia (Bandung), PT Bitratex Industrial Corp. (Jakarta
Selatam), PT Elegant Textile Industry (Jakarta), PT Kanindo
Success Textile Industries (Jakarta), PT Indorama Synthetics
(Jakarta), PT Lotus Indah Textile Industrie (Surabaya), PT Sulindafin
Permai Spinning Mills (PT Sulindamills) (Jakarta), PT Sunrise
Bumi Textiles (Jakarta) (additional Taric code: 8595) and in the
case of the People's Republic of China Guangying Spinning Co.
Ltd. (Guangzhou) (additional Taric code: 8596).
On the other hand, it maintained a duty of 11,9%
for PT Gokak Indonesia.
Statistics on trade in goods
The Council adopted a Regulation on statistics relating
to trade in goods between the Community and its Member States
and nonmember countries.
The purpose of this Regulation is to adapt and supplement
existing provisions in this area aimed at the development of a
common methodology in all Member States for the preparation of
Community statistics relating to trade in goods, which will be
an indispensable tool for the purposes of the common commercial
policy.
In particular it concerns external trade, transit,
customs warehouse, free zone and free warehouse statistics.
EHLASS
By a qualified majority, the German delegation voting
against and the French delegation abstaining, the Council adopted
a Decision adapting the Community system of information on home
and leisure accidents (EHLASS) to take account of the accession
of the three new Member States.
Under the changes, the Community funds considered
necessary for the implementation of the system were increased
to ECU 2,808 million a year for the period 1995 to 1997.
The total number of hospitals taking part in the
information system was fixed at sixtyfive, including four
Austrian, three Finnish and four Swedish ones.
Fisheries
The Council adopted a Regulation amending for the
sixteenth time Regulation (EEC) No 3094/86 laying down certain
technical measures for the conservation of fishery resources.
Under the changes made, the use of vessels with engine
powers exceeding 221 kw in the flatfish protection zone is
prohibited.