Conseil “Affaires économiques et financières”, 10/11/2015, 10 novembre 2015

Main results

Climate change

The Council adopted conclusions ahead of the 21st conference of the parties to the UN framework convention on climate change.

• Conclusions du Conseil sur le financement de la lutte contre le changement climatique

With an ambitious mandate for the Paris conference, the European Union is assuming its role as one of the main forces behind a new climate agreement Pierre Gramegna, Minister of Finance of Luxembourg

The conference, to be held in Paris from 30 November to 11 December 2015, will set out to approve a new UN climate agreement for the post-2020 period. The aim is to limit the global average temperature increase to maximum 2°C compared to pre-industrial levels, and guarantee sufficient public and private financing to achieve that.

"With an ambitious mandate for the Paris conference, the European Union is assuming its role as one of the main forces behind a new climate agreement", said Pierre Gramegna, minister of finance of Luxembourg and president of the Council. "We are also ready to provide a major contribution to the financing of climate change needs".

The Council conclusions focus on the EU's climate finance contributions towards the $100 billion per year pledged by developed countries by 2020, and on the predictability of climate finance contributions. They address the financing aspects of a new UN climate agreement for the post-2020 period.

Significant resources will be needed to help developing countries deal adequately with climate change, both to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to adapt to the consequences of climate change. The $100 billion per year pledged by developed countries by 2020 will come from a broad variety of sources: public and private, bilateral and multilateral and including alternative sources of finance.

Capital markets union

The Council adopted conclusions welcoming the Commission's action plan for the development of a capital markets union.

The plan is aimed at establishing a fully functioning EU capital markets union by the end of 2019. A variety of measures are planned to strengthen capital markets so as to attract more investment, including foreign investment, for European companies and infrastructure projects.

One of the main aims is to improve access to finance for SMEs and start-ups, especially in innovative industries.

"We have already started work on a proposal on simple, transparent and standardised securitisation, with the aim of reaching a political agreement as soon as possible and maybe even before the end of this year", Mr Gramegna said. "We also await a proposal on prospectuses, which will be important for facilitating access to credit for small and medium-sized enterprises, in order to start work on that too."

• Conclusions du Conseil sur le plan d'action de la Commission pour la mise en place d'une union des marchés des capitaux

Repeal of the savings taxation directive

Directive 2003/48/EC, which since 2005 has allowed tax administrations better access to information on private savers, was repealed by the Council.

This follows a strengthening of measures to prevent tax evasion. A significant overlap had developed with other legislation in this field, and the repeal eliminates that overlap.

• Abrogation de la directive sur la fiscalité de l'épargne

• Résultats de la session du Conseil