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European Commission Spokesman's Briefing for 03-10-07
From: EUROPA, the European Commission Server at <http://europa.eu.int>
CONTENTS / CONTENU
[01] VAT : Commission welcomes Council adoption of rules for gas and
electricity supplies
[02] Fraude fiscale : la Commission salue l'adoption, par le Conseil, de
nouvelles règles visant à renforcer la coopération entre les autorités
fiscales
[03] European industry leaders and EU policymakers meet to plan for
security research
[04] European industry leaders and EU policymakers meet to plan for
security research
[05] La sécurité d'approvisionnement énergétique au centre du prochain
Conseil Energie de l'UE
[06] Report on Sapard welcomes contribution of this instrument on the
enlargement process
[07] This year's winners of the European "IST Prize" for most Innovative
Information Society Technology announced at Milan IST 2003 Conference
[08] Autre matériel diffusé
Midday Express 07/10/2003
TXT: FR ENPDF:DOC:Midday Express 07/10/2003
[01] VAT : Commission welcomes Council adoption of rules for gas and
electricity supplies
The European Commission has welcomed the Council's adoption of a Directive
that modifies the rules for applying value added tax (VAT) to the supplies
of gas and electricity so as to facilitate the Internal Market for energy.
The new rules, based on a Commission proposal of 5 December 2002 (see
IP/02/1823), will eliminate current problems of double taxation and non-
taxation and distortions of competition between traders. They will do so by
changing the place of taxation of natural gas in pipelines and of
electricity from the place of supply to the place of consumption. The
current rules worked adequately in a national context but are not
appropriate now with market liberalisation and increasing cross-border
supplies of gas and electricity. Member States must implement the new
measures by 1 January 2005.
[02] Fraude fiscale : la Commission salue l'adoption, par le Conseil, de
nouvelles règles visant à renforcer la coopération entre les autorités
fiscales
La Commission européenne s'est félicitée de l'adoption, par le Conseil des
ministres des finances de l'Union européenne, d'un règlement visant à
renforcer la coopération mutuelle des autorités fiscales des Etats membres
en matière de lutte contre la fraude à la taxe sur la valeur ajoutée (TVA).
Ce règlement poursuit trois objectifs : fixer des règles plus claires et
plus contraignantes concernant l'échange d'informations, instaurer des
contacts plus directs entre les services nationaux de lutte antifraude et
promouvoir un échange d'informations plus intensif. Le but ultime est de
remédier aux faiblesses de l'échange d'informations et de la coopération
administrative entre les autorités fiscales mises en lumière dans le
rapport sur la fraude à la TVA publié par la Commission en février 2000
(voir IP/00/115) et dans le rapport sur la fraude fiscale publié par le
groupe ad hoc du Conseil en juin 2000. Parallèlement, le Conseil a adopté
une directive qui étend le champ d'application de la directive concernant
l'assistance mutuelle (77/799/CEE), de manière à permettre aux Etats
membres de s'échanger des informations relatives aux taxes sur les primes
d'assurance. Ces deux actes juridiques sont fondés sur une proposition de
la Commission du 19 juin 2001 (voir IP/01/857 et MEMO/01/230).
[03] European industry leaders and EU policymakers meet to plan for
security research
The European Commission has kick-started the development of a European
security research programme. A group of selected personalities from
industry, government and academia gathered today at the invitation of
Commissioners Philippe Busquin (Research) and Erkki Liikanen (Enterprise)
to define a European agenda for security research and spearhead the
development of a research programme by 2006. In a first phase, the group
will advise the Commission on the implementation of a preparatory action
for security research for which €65 million has been proposed for 2004-
2006. The preparatory action and the future programme should enhance the
EU's scientific and technological capabilities for ensuring the security of
European citizens. At the same time, it should give a boost to European
industry and research.
[04] European industry leaders and EU policymakers meet to plan for
security research
The European Commission has kick-started the development of a European
security research programme. A group of selected personalities from
industry, government and academia gathered today at the invitation of
Commissioners Philippe Busquin (Research) and Erkki Liikanen (Enterprise)
to define a European agenda for security research and spearhead the
development of a research programme by 2006. In a first phase, the group
will advise the Commission on the implementation of a preparatory action
for security research for which €65 million has been proposed for 2004-
2006. The preparatory action and the future programme should enhance the
EU's scientific and technological capabilities for ensuring the security of
European citizens. At the same time, it should give a boost to European
industry and research.
[05] La sécurité d'approvisionnement énergétique au centre du prochain
Conseil Energie de l'UE
Le Ministre italien des Activités productives, Antonio Marzano, Président
du Conseil Energie de l'Union, et la Vice-présidente de la Commission
européenne, Loyola de Palacio, ont décidé de mettre au cœur des débats du
prochain Conseil Energie de l'Union Européenne, la question de la sécurité
des systèmes énergétiques, en particulier électriques.
[06] Report on Sapard welcomes contribution of this instrument on the
enlargement process
This annual report on Special Pre-Accession Programme for Agriculture and
Rural Development (Sapard) has been prepared by DG Agriculture and
published today by the European Commission. It describes the work done in
the framework of the Programme in the year 2002 as well as the results that
have been achieved. To provide the reader with a comprehensive picture of
the operational function of the Programme the report includes some
additional developments of the early part of 2003. This is the first annual
report that applies to all ten beneficiary countries and the outcome of its
operation in preparation for accession. The report comments inter alia on
the Conferral of Management of Aid to the ten candidate countries and on
the reshaping of the legal framework with the introduction of a number of
technical changes through the Annual Financing Agreement for 2002. It
describes and presents other specific initiatives taken by the Commission
to help with application of Sapard, such as helping to prepare Monitoring
Committees, giving advice during them and ensuring follow-up of all
initiatives taken in that context. This report includes a separate
individual chapter with the summary reports contributed by beneficiary
countries. For the full text of the report please see : http://europa.eu.int/comm/agriculture/publi/reports/sapard2002/full_en.pdf
[07] This year's winners of the European "IST Prize" for most Innovative
Information Society Technology announced at Milan IST 2003 Conference
At IST 2003 Conference in Milan, the three Grand Prize-winners of the
European Information Society Prize were announced. The winners were
presented with the Grand IST Trophy for 2003 by Erkki Liikanen, European
Commissioner for the Information Society, Dr. Lucio Stanca, Italian
Minister for Innovation and Technologies, and Pasquale Pistorio, President
and CEO of STMicroelectronics and Chairman of the IST Prize executive jury.
[08] Autre matériel diffusé
Discours de M. Barnier à la Conférence ministérielle avec les nouveaux
Etats membres sur la préparation à la mise en oeuvre du Chapitre 21 (06/10)
Discours de M. Lamy à l'ouverture des négociations d'un accord de
partenariat économique CEDEAO-UE (06/10, Cotonou)
Speech by Poul Nielson : "Economic Partnership Agreement" at the opening of
regional negotiations on Economic Partnership Agreements (06/10, Cotonou)
From EUROPA, the European Commission Server at http://europa.eu.int/
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