Following a meeting with his French counterpart Bruno Le Maire in Vienna, Hans Joerg Schelling said: “The cross-border fight against tax fraud and tax avoidance is a top priority for me,” reports newswire Reuters.
“Tackling tax evasion more effectively will require European and international solutions. The European Union must finally come up with a joint strategy,” he said.
Eliminate opportunities
Austria’s finance ministry said Schelling has devised a plan to eliminate opportunities for tax avoidance and evasion, which was discussed with European Economic and Financial Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici in mid-July.
During their meeting at the end of July, Le Maire and Schelling discussed the need for a deepening of ties in the economic and monetary unions of the EU and eurozone, the finance ministry said.
Estonia currently holds the European Council presidency, with Bulgaria due to take over from January.
Rotating presidency
Presidency of the EC rotates between the EU member states every six months, during which time the presidency chairs meetings at every level.
Member states holding the presidency work together closely in groups of three, called ‘trios’, a system introduced by the Lisbon Treaty in 2009.
The trio sets long-term goals and prepares a common agenda determining the topics and major issues that will be addressed by the council over an 18- month period.
On that basis, each of the three countries prepares its own more detailed six-month programme.
The current trio is made up of Estonia, Bulgaria and Austria.
