Meeting on 9 December in Brussels, finance ministers of the EU held a session of the ECOFIN Council. The meeting´s agenda was very wide, starting with the recently announced €315 billion investment plan. Ministers heard the presentation of the project from EIB President. The EIB is at the core of the investment plan – it will provide a part of the initial funding to the future investment fund and will also host this fund. After a brief discussion, the ministers expressed their support for the investment plan and urged the Commission to come up with concrete legislative proposal. The European Council meeting on 18 and 19 December will also be asked to endorse the investment plan.

The ministers adopted also several measures related to the fight against tax fraud and avoidance. Firstly, they formally adopted the directive providing for enhanced automatic exchange of tax information among Member States. Then, the ministers reached an agreement on an amendment to the parent-subsidiary directive. This directive was initially adopted to avoid double taxation of profits in parent-subsidiary enterprise schemes. However, the Council deemed necessary to amend this directive with an anti-abuse clause. The benefits of the parent-subsidiary directive are not to be abused for tax avoidance. This measure will be formally adopted at a following session of the Council without further discussion.