Commissioner Algirdas Šemeta chaired on 12 October the first meeting of the new Tax Policy Group, which brings together personal representatives of EU Finance Ministers to discuss key tax policy issues. The Group was established in 1996 as a high-level group for strategic discussion on tax policy issues at a European level and played an important role in the success of the "Tax Package" in the late 90s.

The Tax Policy Group was announced by Commissioner Šemeta as one of his top priorities as Taxation Commissioner, seeing it as a crucial means of maintaining political momentum on key issues related to taxation at EU level.

The Group will provide a regular fixed forum for high-level discussions to explore the scope and priorities for tax policy coordination within Europe, such as financial sector taxation, common consolidated corporate tax base and the new VAT Strategy. It will help the Commission and Member States to exchange views on proposals before they are put on the table, and to push forward discussions on important taxation dossiers, and will work on fundamental topics such as how taxation can contribute to a stronger Internal Market, to the growth and competitiveness of Europe's economy and to a "greener" economy.

In its first meeting the Tax Policy Group looked at the recommendations in Professor Monti's report on the re-launch of the Internal Market, including how to address obstacles and bottlenecks in areas such as corporate taxation, consumption taxes and environmental taxation. Members of the Group also addressed how tax policy coordination could better contribute to fiscal consolidation and improve the effectiveness of national strategies.

At the request of the ECOFIN Council at the end of September, the Tax Policy Group also focused on the issue of financial sector taxation, taking into account the Commission's recent policy orientations in this area.