Notes that tax incentives, including exemption from company tax in Special Economic Areas, are depriving African states of tax revenues that could have been a source of vital public investment in agriculture, especially in food security and nutrition programmes

38. Is surprised that there are as yet no EU-level tax incentives for cooperation and pooling; takes note of the call by the December 2013 Council for such arrangements to be explored, and finds it regrettable that, a year on, discussions have not yet produced any tangible measures in this regard; notes that the Belgian Government already grants VAT exemptions, on an ad hoc basis, for the preparatory phases of certain EDA projects (for example for satellite communications); believes that such exemptions should be applied systematically and extended to infrastructure and specific capability-related programmes, taking as a model the exi ...[+++]sting NATO mechanism or the existing EU mechanism for civilian research infrastructure; calls for the development of any other incentives that could encourage cooperation between European stakeholders;

27. Is surprised that there are as yet no European-level tax incentives for cooperation and pooling; takes note of the call by the December 2013 Council for such arrangements to be explored, and finds it regrettable that, a year on, discussions have not yet produced any tangible measures in this regard; notes that the Belgian Government already grants VAT exemptions, on an ad hoc basis, to the preparatory phases of certain EDA projects, e.g. for satellite communications; believes that such exemptions should be applied as a matter of course and should be extended to infrastructure and to specific capability-related ...[+++]programmes, taking as a model the existing mechanism within NATO or the existing EU mechanism for civilian research infrastructures; calls for the development of any other incentive that could encourage capability cooperation between Europeans;

38. Is surprised that there are as yet no EU-level tax incentives for cooperation and pooling; takes note of the call by the December 2013 Council for such arrangements to be explored, and finds it regrettable that, a year on, discussions have not yet produced any tangible measures in this regard; notes that the Belgian Government already grants VAT exemptions, on an ad hoc basis, for the preparatory phases of certain EDA projects (for example for satellite communications); believes that such exemptions should be applied systematically and extended to infrastructure and specific capability-related programmes, taking as a model the exi ...[+++]sting NATO mechanism or the existing EU mechanism for civilian research infrastructure; calls for the development of any other incentives that could encourage cooperation between European stakeholders;

28. Is surprised that there are as yet no European-level tax incentives for cooperation and pooling; takes note of the call by the December 2013 Council for such arrangements to be explored, and finds it regrettable that, a year on, discussions have not yet produced any tangible measures in this regard; notes that the Belgian Government already grants VAT exemptions, on an ad hoc basis, to the preparatory phases of certain EDA projects, e.g. for satellite communications; believes that such exemptions should be applied as a matter of course and should be extended to infrastructure and to specific capability-related ...[+++]programmes, taking as a model the existing mechanism within NATO or the existing EU mechanism for civilian research infrastructures; calls for the development of any other incentive that could encourage capability cooperation between Europeans;

25. Calls on the Member States, in agreement with the Commission, to establish a tax incentive scheme to promote youth employment, and to support undertakings of persons under 35, by means of incentives for undertakings – in particular SMEs – to recruit young people on permanent contracts; proposes, to this end, that – as suggested by the Commission in the employment package – the Member States could use the instrument of employment subsidies and a reduction of the tax wedge, particularly to meet the cost to employers of social security and health insurance contributions;