Economic and Financial Affairs Council, 23/01/2018, 23 January 2018

Main results

The Council removed 8 jurisdictions from the EU's list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes, following commitments made at a high political level to remedy EU concerns.

Barbados, Grenada, the Republic of Korea, Macao SAR, Mongolia, Panama, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates were moved to a separate category of jurisdictions subject to close monitoring.

“Our listing process is already proving its worth", said Vladislav Goranov, minister for finance of Bulgaria, which currently holds the Council presidency. “Jurisdictions around the world have worked hard to make commitments to reform their tax policies. Our aim is to promote the tax good governance criteria globally.”

The decision leaves 9 jurisdictions on the list of non-cooperative jurisdictions out of 17 announced initially on 5 December 2017.

Ministers discussed measures to address non-performing loans in the banking sector.

The Commission is planning measures to implement the Council's July 2017 action plan on non-performing loans.

The Council discussed growth prospects and macroeconomic imbalances under the 'European Semester', the EU's annual policy monitoring process.

It adopted conclusions and approved a draft recommendation on the economic policies of the euro area.

Ministers also discussed the further development of EU economic and monetary union, as well as the priorities of the Bulgarian presidency as concerns economic and financial affairs.

• 2018 Bulgarian presidency work programme