Main results

Financial services

The Presidency presented the state of play as regards current legislative proposals in the field of financial services.

Economic and financial impact of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine

The Council exchanged views on the economic and financial impact of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. Ministers focused in particular on the implementation and impact of the sanctions adopted following Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.

Continued support for Ukraine remains the top priority during our Presidency. Today’s discussion was important to keep monitoring the situation and build on our common actions to counter Russia’s aggression towards Ukraine. Ministers were also updated on the work on the possibilities of using frozen Russian assets to help rebuild Ukraine. The Swedish Presidency will take this work forward in the Council as a matter of priority.

Elisabeth Svantesson, Minister for Finance of Sweden

Economic governance review

Ministers exchanged views on the economic governance review, following the Commission communication on orientations for a reform of the EU governance framework. The Commission had first presented its communication to economy and finance ministers at the Ecofin Council of 6 December 2022. The March Ecofin Council will provide another opportunity to move forward.

In their interventions, ministers gave political guidance as regards the broad topics put forward by the Swedish Presidency: how to ensure country-specific fiscal adjustment while maintaining multilateral surveillance anchored in common EU fiscal rules and benchmarks; views on a possible increased focus on medium-term planning; the potential role of a risk-based analysis of public debt developments in identifying country-specific challenges.

The Presidency concluded that further work was needed in order to find an agreed way forward.

We had a long discussion on the economic governance review. This is an important topic, especially in these uncertain economic times. We need common rules on economic and fiscal policy to guide us, now more than ever. It is no secret that Member States have different views here, but we do not shy away from challenging discussions. We talked about various aspects of how the framework could look in the future, on the basis of the Commission’s communication from last year. Many shared the view that we should combine fiscal adjustment with reforms and investments to address challenges in public finances. We also saw benefits of taking a medium-term perspective to tackle such challenges in a clear and lasting way. And we thought it was important to have stronger national ownership while keeping a strong set of common rules and frameworks. Finding the right balance between these two will be key going forward.

Elisabeth Svantesson, Minister for Finance of Sweden

Recovery and Resilience Facility

The Council adopted an amending implementing decision under the Recovery and Resilience Facility as regards technical changes to the recovery and resilience plan of Germany.

G20 meeting

Ministers approved the EU’s terms of reference in view of the G20 meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors on 24-25 February 2023 in Bengaluru, India.

Taxation: EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions

The Council revised the EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes. There are now 16 jurisdictions on the EU list: American Samoa, Anguilla, Bahamas, British Virgin Islands, Costa Rica, Fiji, Guam, Marshall Islands, Palau, Panama, Russia, Samoa, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, US Virgin Islands and Vanuatu.

Today, we decided to add four jurisdictions to the EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes: British Virgin Islands, Costa Rica, Marshall Islands and Russia. We ask all listed countries to improve their legal framework and to work towards compliance with international standards in taxation. At the same time I warmly congratulate North Macedonia, Barbados, Jamaica and Uruguay as they successfully fulfilled their commitments and could be removed from the state of play document.

Elisabeth Svantesson, Minister for Finance of Sweden

Zimbabwe

Without discussion, the Council decided to renew EU restrictive measures in view of the situation in Zimbabwe until 20 February 2024, and continue to keep the measures under constant review in the light of political and security developments in the country.

The Council also adopted without discussion the items on the lists of non-legislative A items.