Maria Assimakopoulou Quotations

Legally all member states that apply reduced rates, they have to come back to the minimum standard VAT rate in the European Union, which is 15 percent.

If we have this agreement, everybody is going to gain, including Poland. And if we don't have this agreement, everybody will lose including Poland.

You all know how difficult it is to operate with unanimity.

We still hope that Poland will join this agreement.

VAT is levied according to national laws, so the nine countries would have to amend their legislation accordingly.

The situations is clear ... they have to change the situation and come back to the level of standard VAT.

In practice, probably member states, some of them if not all of them, will have to pass laws in national parliaments in order to move from one regime to the other and this can take a certain time.