The Economic and Financial Affairs Council was held in Brussels on 19 January 2010. The following items were discussed:

Legislative deliberations

Recovery Directive

Ministers discussed and agreed a general approach on the recovery directive, aimed at strengthening mutual assistance between member states in the recovery of taxes. The Government support the directive, which provides an overhaul of existing provisions aimed at clamping down on tax evasion. The directive will be adopted at a forthcoming Council meeting, following consultation with the European Parliament.

Non-legislative activities

Presentation of the Presidency Work Programme

The Spanish presidency presented its ECOFIN work programme for the first half of 2010.

Statistics: Eurostat report

ECOFIN agreed a set of conclusions on a report by the Commission’s statistics agency into the quality of official statistics in Greece. The Government support the conclusions, which urge Greece to ensure that outstanding issues are dealt with as a matter of priority and calls on the Commission to propose measures to bring the Greek statistical system in line with EU standards. ECOFIN will continue to monitor progress and return to the issue in February.