The EU finance ministers have reached an agreement in Luxembourg on the creation of a separate incentive fund for EU countries whose currency is the euro. The fund now proposed is a weak copy of the earlier major plans of French President Macron, who wanted a large fund to be based on the EU budget and on the EU decision-making.
The form and financing of the Budget Instrument for Convergence and Competitiveness (BICC) has been negotiated for almost two years, as the budget is officially called. The instrument is intended for structural reforms and investments to strengthen the euro area, but it is emphatically not & #8216; eurozone budget & #8217 ;.
From the outset, Dutch Finance Minister Wobke Hoekstra has opposed a separate flow of funds for the eurozone countries. Moreover, it was not clear where that money should come today. According to Minister Hoekstra, good steps have now been taken in Luxembourg to improve the use of EU money by linking the budget to reforms & #8221 ;.
Negotiations on the size of the & #8216; pot & #8217; which will be fed from the European multi-annual budget from 2021 to 2027, are yet to start. But it is not expected that more than 20 billion euros for seven years will be available for the 19 euro countries. Agreements have also been made about access to money for non-euro countries.
There also seems to be some progress in the Europe-wide introduction of a & #8216; internet tax & #8217; already introduced by France earlier this year. After failing to reach an agreement within EU, the French did it themselves. Now Italy has also announced a tax on & #8216; cross-border profits & #8217; to enter. According to Italy, tax must be paid in the country where sales and profits are made.
The EU countries that hesitated about the introduction of such a & #8217; n new digitaks, previously argued that such a & #8217; n step should apply globally, and only if that fails, the EU should do it. Just this week, the OECD mathematicians announced that such a & #8217; n internet tax is possible