Finance ministers from the Nordic and Baltic Sea nations met in Tallinn on June 2 to discuss financial reforms.
Published:
7 June 2000 y., Wednesday
Finance ministers from the Nordic and Baltic Sea nations met in Tallinn on June 2 to discuss financial reforms, with some Baltic officials saying countries in the region shouldn't be too hasty about harmonizing tax polices.
Germany has generally advocated faster-paced coordination of tax polices within the 15-member European Union—an organization to which most participants of the Tallinn meeting belong or are striving to join.
But Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania sounded a note of caution about any mandated tax changes. Estonia, in particular, has closely cherished its simplified flat tax system and has lower excise taxes than most EU nations. Estonian Finance Minister Siim Kallas said harmonization should not lead to more complicated tax structures or higher taxes.
But Germany's representative, State Secretary Cajo Koch-Weser, said EU tax reform seemed to be lagging and better coordination among countries was crucial.
The Finance Ministers from Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Iceland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Germany have held annual meetings each year since 1996 to discuss economic and financial reforms in the region. A final communique said talks also touched on how to clamp down on tax evasion and on how some countries were using tax policy to favor domestic industries.
Šaltinis:
balticsww.com
Copying, publishing, announcing any information from the News.lt portal without written permission of News.lt editorial office is prohibited.
The most popular articles
The European Parliament's proposal for its own operational budget for 2011 includes the financing of measures in preparation for enlargement with Croatia.
more »
Links between business and the academic world need to be strengthened but higher education institutions must retain their autonomy and public support, says a resolution adopted on Thursday by the European Parliament.
more »
The Spanish Minister of Economy and Finance, Elena Salgado, will present the additional fiscal tightening measures set out by the Spanish Government to her eurozone (Eurogroup) counterparts on Monday; the measures were required by Spain’s European partners as a condition of approving the plan to bolster the euro on 9 May.
more »
The European Commission has opened an in-depth investigation under EU State aid rules into capital injections destined to two subsidiaries of state owned company Elan Skupina in Slovenia.
more »
GDP growth in the EU expected to gradually pick up, though recovery less robust than past upturns.
more »
The EESC tabled its opinion on the regulation of alternative investment funds, such as hedge funds and private funds. Although endorsing the much debated proposal of the European Commission, the EESC calls for uniform risk data provision for all such funds and emphasizes their responsibility in triggering the crisis.
more »
Concluding the process and deciding on the schedule for releasing the funds agreed on for Greece, as well as examining and learning lessons from the crisis for the governance of the eurozone, will be the focus of the discussions of the heads of state and government at the meeting in Brussels this Friday.
more »
The EU pavilion at the world expo in Shanghai marks the first time the EU has presented itself to a large Chinese audience.
more »
Shanghai's World Expo offers visitors plenty of fun offering bizarre things to do at over 200 pavillions competing for attention.
more »
The European Investment Bank (EIB) is providing a loan of EUR 150 million to MVM Zrt. for the capacity increase and the extension of a high-voltage transmission network, partly constituting priority axes of the Trans-European Energy Network (TEN-E) in Hungary.
more »