(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) BRUSSELS, May 25 (KUNA) -- European Union (EU) Economic and Finance Ministers failed Friday to agree on new rules to strengthen cooperation among EU member states on value added tax (VAT).
"Unfortunately member states were not able to reach an agreement on new rules to strengthen cooperation between EU countries in the area on value added tax," Valdis Dombrovskis, Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of the Euro, Financial Stability, Financial Services, told a press conference after the ministerial meeting.
He recalled that every year around 50 billion Euros (USD 58 billion) are lost to tax authorities as a result of cross border VAT fraud and added that "this is a cautious estimate and this fraud can also be a source of organized crimes including terrorism." "We believe that the new rules would help to address this problem by boosting cooperation and information sharing among national tax authorities and law enforcement authorities," he said and hoped that finale details can be ironed out and agreement can be reached already at next month meeting of the ministers.
In reply to a question on EU-Iran economic ties related with the Iran nuclear deal, Dombrovskis answered that "the EU remain committed to this agreement and also we trust the International Atomic Energy Agency which has confirmed several times that Iran is actually holding its past of the deal." "So it is important that partners hold their part of the deal. So we regret the decision of the US to walk away from the deal unilaterally and we continue to work on the ways of EU's engagement in Iran in this particular area," he added.
Meanwhile, the EU Ministers agreed on proposals to reduce risk in the banking industry, strengthening rules on capital requirements and on bank recovery and resolution inside Europe.
"The agreement on the banking package today will enable us to make progress on other elements of the banking union", Vladislav Goranov, minister for finance of Bulgaria, which currently holds the EU Presidency, told the joint press conference. (end) nk.rk
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