UPN, Alm.del - 2012-13 - Bilag 216: Hyrdebrev fra formanden for Det Europæiske Råd forud for mødet i Det Europæiske Råd den 22. maj 2013

It is my pleasure to invite you to the meeting of the European Council on 22 May 2013 in Brussels.The aim of this European Council is to set the direction for future work on two issues of crucialimportance for Europe's economy and social cohesion: energy and taxation. Indeed, I intend for theEuropean Council to hold a number of such thematic discussions, to ensure that all of our policiescontribute fully to improving competitiveness, employment and growth. These debates will alsofeed into a wide-ranging discussion on the Europe 2020 strategy in March next year.

After our traditional meeting with the President of the European Parliament, we will begin our workinglunch with an exchange of views on energy, starting with an introduction by José Manuel. Thanks to thework of the Council, we have draft conclusions which strike the right balance and which provide usefulguidelines for further work by the ministers. This gives us an opportunity to have a strategic discussionamongst ourselves on the key issue of energy policy and competitiveness, rather than going into detailon the wording of the conclusions. To frame our debate, I should like to invite you to intervene on oneof the three following questions. To foster EU competitiveness, growth and jobs, what should be done atthe level of the EU to further increase energy efficiency? To further develop indigenous resources? Andto achieve a more predictable energy policy, as a prerequisite to attract the necessary investments into amodern energy infrastructure? I am confident that your intervention will contribute to giving thenecessary orientation to our future work.

We will then focus on the issue of taxation. Last March we already stressed the need for renewed effortsto improve the efficiency of tax collection and tackle tax evasion. In times of tight budgetary constraintsand expenditure cuts, combating tax fraud and tax evasion is more than an issue of tax fairness. It hasbecome essential for the political and social acceptability of fiscal consolidation. Therefore, andfollowing recent developments, both in Europe and globally, I felt it was important to seize the currentpolitical momentum and to provide further impetus to our European efforts to improve the efficiency ofour tax policies.The discussions will also serve to prepare strong and coordinated EU positions ininternational fora such as the G8, the G20 and the OECD as well as in our relations with internationalpartners.