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Economic and Financial Affairs Council, 18 February 2025
Main results
Competitiveness and improving the EU’s business environment
The Commission presented the Competitiveness Compassinitiative that aims to steer its work in the field of competitiveness.
Ministers continued their exchange views on competitiveness, simplification and improving the business environment in Europe.They shared the commitment to take actionable steps towards simplification with the aim of providing insights to the Commission when designing further action.
I welcome very much that our priority of simplification has already brought practical outcomes. We will work tirelessly with the Commission and member states to remove obstacles and unlock entrepreneurial potential of Europeans.
As EU finance ministers we also hear clearly that there is an increasing agreement to spend more on defence and security. Our job is to find effective and credible way of doing so.
Ministers exchanged views on the economic and financial impact of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, based on an update by the Commission, including on the implementation of EU restrictive measures and sanctions.
The Council approved its guidelines for the EU’s annual budget for 2026. They will serve as a reference for the Commission when preparing next year’s budget.
The Council also adopted a recommendation on the discharge to be given to the Commission for the implementation of the EU general budget for 2023. The Council recommends that the European Parliament grant the discharge to the Commission as well as to executive agencies, joint undertakings and other bodies.
Taking work forward on the European Semester 2025, the Council approved conclusions on the Alert Mechanism Report 2025 and agreed on the 2025 recommendation on the economic policy of the euro area.
In the context of the implementation of the EU’s new economic governance rules, the Council endorsed Hungary’s medium-term fiscal-structural plan and set its net expenditure path.
Under the excessive deficit procedure the Council recommends that Hungary should put an end to its excessive deficit situation by 2026.
Hungary should ensure that the nominal growth rate of net expenditure does not exceed 4.3% in 2025 and 4.0% in 2026.
The Council reviewed the EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions in the field of taxation and adopted the list without changes. The list consists of the same 11 jurisdictions as before:
The countries listed are within the scope of the EU screening process.
The updated EU list of non-cooperative tax jurisdictions includes countries that either have not engaged in a constructive dialogue with the EU on tax governance or have failed to deliver on their commitments to implement the necessary reforms.
The Council also formally adopted new rules aimed at replacing the current paper certificates used to declare exemptions from the EU’s value added tax (VAT) with a new electronic form, that will enter into force in 2031. During a transitional period of one year member states will be able to use both electronic and paper versions.
The Council approved the EU terms of reference in view of the G20 Finance Ministers and Central bank Governors meeting that will be held on 26-27 February 2025.
The Presidency presented the state of play of legislative proposals in the field of financial services, also with the view of a possible administrative burden reduction.
