Tomorrow’s Council meeting theme is energy and taxes. A few hours but intense

Van Rompuy inaugurates a series of European Summits dedicated to a few specific themes. Political meetings between leaders to set guidelines for critical issues. Then the ministers will go into detail later

They will meet from 1:00 – 5:00 and then everyone will go home. Tomorrow’s European Council meeting is finally well-organized with precise themes on the agenda that don’t create messianic expectations but that will deal with 2 fundamental questions like energy and the battle against tax evasion on a political level and then the ministers of the sectors will go into technical detail at a later date; in any case tomorrow the conclusions will not even be approved, just a “Draft.”

It is the new direction of Herman van Rompuy, President of the European Council, the one who decided “to keep a certain number of themed discussions, in order to guarantee that all our policies can wholly contribute to improving competitiveness, employment and growth.” 4 hours of well-prepared meetings between heads of state and governments is more than enough to draft a plan that the ministers will subsequently develop, and the idea to do it more often is good – for the European leaders to meet more frequently and with a more systematic approach.

“The objective of this European Council is to set up the direction for future work on 2 issues of crucial importance for the European economy and social cohesion: energy and taxes,” writes van Rompuy in the invitation letter to heads of government where he announces another meeting of this type scheduled for March 2014 on Europe 2020, to be prepared with themed meetings. Tomorrow at the beginning of the meeting Martin Schulz, President of the European Parliament, will intervene as is tradition and then “we will begin our working lunch with an exchange of opinions on the topic of energy, beginning with an introduction from José Manuel Barroso.” Then there will be “a strategic discussion among us,” “rather than going into detail to form conclusions.”

Van Rompuy also clarifies the agenda tasks to his colleagues: “I would like to invite you to intervene on 1 of the 3 following questions. To promote European competitiveness, growth and employment, what must be done on a European Union level to ultimately increase energy efficiency? How do we develop our resources better? And what needs to be done to achieve a more predictable energy policy as a prerequisite to boost necessary investments in modern energy infrastructure?” Then we will talk about taxes established in March, “the need for renewed efforts to improve efficiency in tax collection and tax compliance.” Van Rompuy highlights that in times of tight budget constraints and spending cuts the fight against fraud and tax evasion is more than a matter of justice. It has become essential for political and social acceptability of fiscal consolidation policies.”

“We will finish our work at 5:00 in the afternoon,” concludes the President of the European Council.