SOU, Alm.del - 2019-20 - Bilag 168: Kopi af breve til nyudnævnte kommissærer, fra finansministeren

Social- og Indenrigsudvalget 2019-20
SOU Alm.del Bilag 168
Offentligt

Valdis Dombrovskis

Executive Vice-President for An Economy that Works for the People

European Commission

Dear Executive Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis,

Please accept our warmest congratulations on your appointment as

Executive Vice-President for An Economy that Works for the People.

We would like to present you with some ideas and priorities, which we

hope you will read with interest.

A sustainable, fair and stable Single Market for financial services

Developing an open, transparent and globally competitive European

financial sector is key for European businesses’ possibility to finance e.g.

the transition to climate neutral productions and value chains.

We fully support your focus on further developing the EU-framework for

sustainable investments. The European financial sector should continue to

develop towards securing a leading position for the EU in promoting

sustainable and responsible investments, enabling the financial sector to

support sustainable growth and mobilizing the private investments

necessary to decarbonize our economies. In this regard, we look forward

to an ambitious green financing strategy. We also look forward to the

Sustainable Europe Investment Plan and to discuss different options for

strengthening the EIB's efforts on climate.

In addition, we believe that rebooting the Capital Markets Union can

contribute to unlocking sustainable investments across borders. More

integrated European capital markets could make it easier for European

firms to obtain funding and thereby promote sustainable growth. The

Capital Markets Union can also create better saving opportunities for

households and generally promote private risk sharing, thereby making the

economic and monetary union more stable.

A main priority for Denmark is to continue our fight against money

laundering. It will take a sustained and determined effort both at national

level and at EU-level. We therefore look forward to discussing how we

can strengthen and intensify the cross-border cooperation and

coordination. From our perspective, many initiatives are worth

considering. The next steps could be to investigate the possibility to

allocate special competences to an EU-body to fight money laundering and

further harmonize the Single Rule Book throughout the EU by

transforming parts of the anti-money laundering directive to a regulation.

SOU, Alm.del - 2019-20 - Bilag 168: Kopi af breve til nyudnævnte kommissærer, fra finansministeren

We encourage the Commission to look into the potential of technology in

assisting financial institutions in their fight against dirty money. We

believe the development of technology can considerably help financial

institutions in detecting dirty money, e.g. on KYC-procedures.

The implementation of the final Basel III standards in EU will mark an

important step in our efforts to secure a robust and well-functioning

financial system. However, the so-called output floor risks leading to a

general reduction in risk sensitivity of capital requirements. Reduced risk

sensitivity implies that institutions have incentives for increased risk

taking, as the institutions can take on more risky exposures without

corresponding increases in the capital requirements. We encourage an

implementation of the Basel III standards that preserves the risk sensitivity

of banking regulation and takes into account the special characteristics of

well-functioning European credit institutions, as we have done in the past.

We have confidence that you will work towards finding appropriate

solutions in the upcoming proposal.

Towards a competitive and climate-friendly European industry

European industry is a key player in restoring the EU’s global

competitiveness as well as fulfilling the Paris Agreement. The upcoming

action-plan for industry should set a clear political direction with an

emphasis on cost-effective and market-based measures that encourage

businesses to make necessary investments needed for the transition to a

competitive, circular and climate-neutral European industry.

Furthermore, we would encourage you to make sure that the work on

Important Projects of Common European Interest (IPCEIs) related to

strategic value chains contribute to achieve our climate and environmental

objectives. Moreover, we should improve the transparency of IPCEIs by

introducing ex-ante consultation. This will allow all Member States to

easily participate and contribute.

There is also a need to re-think the future set-up for identifying strategic

value chains. To this end, we need a new procedure for identifying,

amending or phasing out strategic value chains. The procedure should

maintain the original bottom-up approach characterizing the current

Strategic Forum while ensuring political legitimacy and governance and

directing initiatives towards major challenges such as climate change.

We also encourage you to lay down the pillars for a robust framework for

secure, interoperable and trustworthy data sharing that can contribute to

the green transition of industry. We should openly discuss how best to

encourage and ensure more data sharing through a coherent European

framework as the use of data is vital for European businesses if they are to

be global frontrunners of the data economy.

SOU, Alm.del - 2019-20 - Bilag 168: Kopi af breve til nyudnævnte kommissærer, fra finansministeren

Moreover, the European industrial sector is closely linked to and depends

on a competitive and innovative Single Market. An effective

implementation and enforcement are a key component towards making the

Single Market both fairer and smoother for law-abiding businesses,

consumers and workers. We need a firm and ambitious long-term action

plan for better implementation and enforcement, containing concrete

initiatives on how to improve the uniform implementation, application and

enforcement of our common rules.

Regarding the new SME Strategy, we hope focus would be on the

possibilities for SMEs, solutions to the challenges posed by climate change

and rapid digitalization and ways to make it easier to scale-up and

participate in European and global value-chains.

Sound public finances and consistent implementation of fiscal rules

It is crucial that Europe avoids a new debt crisis. We have seen how

quickly weak public finances can create or aggravate a crisis, undermining

welfare and increasing unemployment, spreading rapidly across Europe.

Those who have the least lose the most in an economic crisis.

Public finances are in many countries worse prepared for a new crisis

today, with much higher debt level than before the crisis a decade ago. All

Member States should respect our common fiscal rules and make sure that

their own house and public finances are in order. The Commission and the

Council should ensure consistent and transparent enforcement of the

common rules. This is key for credibility and stable, low interest rates,

which are preconditions for avoiding a new crisis and creating jobs and

growth.

Not many years ago we finalised several significant and time-consuming

reforms of our fiscal framework in view of the lessons learned during the

crisis. We should now focus on implementing the agreed rules, rather than

embarking on yet another reform.

a reform is initiated the overall

objective should be to maintain the same average level of ambition we

have now, and not permit higher deficits in general. Within the rules on

deficits and debt, expenditure priorities is a national responsibility and not

a matter for the common rules. The rules should not differentiate between

more and less productive expenditure, as all expenditure is equally relevant

for debt dynamics and market reactions.

Europe does not need weaker, but stronger, public finances in order to

realise our political priorities and tackle the challenges of today and the

future.

SOU, Alm.del - 2019-20 - Bilag 168: Kopi af breve til nyudnævnte kommissærer, fra finansministeren

Social dialogue at European level and minimum wage

We are very happy to note your continued strong dedication to the

important issue of social dialogue at European level.

Including the views of the social partners is key for designing labour

market policies and initiatives that reflect the diversity of the European

labour markets. The experience and knowledge of the social partners can

also contribute to ensuring European labour market regulation that works

in practice and increase the public support for these initiatives.

Denmark supports a social and fair Europe including the aim to ensure that

every worker in the EU has an adequate living income when working full-

time. It is essential that all Member States have labour market models

which ensure a decent living.

In order to exploit the full potential and legitimacy of a forthcoming

proposal on minimum wage, the right balance between a need for common

guidelines, national competences and enforcement must be struck.

Therefore, we very much welcome the assurances given by the

Commission of respect for systems based on collective bargaining, i.e. that

any future initiative on minimum wage will not interfere with labour

market models where wages are regulated by collective agreements.

Yours sincerely,

Simon Kollerup,

Minister for Industry, Business and Financial Affairs

Nicolai Wammen,

Minister for Finance

Peter Hummelgaard Thomsen

Minister for Employment