As part of the discussion, Ministers overviewed the state of play of the current legislative proposals in the area of financial services as well as of the implementation of the Banking Union. Special attention was paid to the proposal on the establishment of a European Deposit Insurance Scheme, where discussions are expected to start soon.
The Council adopted conclusions on the Annual Growth Survey (AGS) marking the start of the 2016 European Semester and the Alert Mechanism Report (AMR) which is the basis for the 2016 Macroeconomic Imbalances Procedure (MIP). Ministers also approved Council Recommendation on the economic policy of the euro area.
Finance ministers had a discussion on the widening of the scope of the reverse charge mechanism (VAT) and on the introduction of a possible pilot project for domestic transactions, based on the proposals made by the Czech Republic. Hungary’s position is that combatting VAT fraud needs urgent steps therefore Hungary supports the proposals of the Czech Republic and the overall deliberation on these issues should be carried out in the context of the Commission Action Plan in March.
