EU finance ministers to discuss new EU revenues, digital tax

European Union finance ministers will discuss on Friday new revenues for the bloc from various taxes, including a levy on digital giants like Google, Amazon, Facebook or Microsoft, to repay joint borrowing, German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said.

The European Union decided in July to jointly borrow 750 billion euros on the market and spend it to kick start the economy plunged into a deep recession by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Meanwhile, Euro zone finance ministers on Friday will begin the process of choosing a successor to European Central Bank executive board member Yves Mersch, whose term comes to an end in December.

In a letter the ECB has asked euro zone finance ministers meeting for informal talks in Berlin to start the process.

The chairman of the ministers will invite each euro zone country to present a candidate, if they wish to, over the next month.

The six-person executive board of the bank manages its day-to-day operations and members are appointed for 8-year terms that cannot be renewed.

At the next euro zone ministers’ meeting one of the candidates will be chosen with a simple majority of votes, where each euro zone country has one vote.

The candidate will then have a hearing in the European Parliament, which cannot block any candidacies, and be formally appointed by European Union leaders at their summit in December.