José Manuel Barroso, President of the EC, and Herman van Rompuy, President of the European Council, participated in the 8th G20 Summit in Russia. Leaders of the G20 adopted the Saint Petersburg Action Plan for Growth and Jobs, with concrete contributions by all G20 Members. This Summit also cemented the global shift towards fairer taxation by agreeing on setting up the automatic exchange of tax information among G20 Members as from 2015 – as the EU has pushed for – and leaders endorsed the work of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on base erosion and profit shifting.
During the joint press conference José Manuel Barroso and Herman van Rompuy stated that the EU came to the G20 with a message of confidence about delivery of its G20 commitments and the positive effects of its comprehensive crisis response, which were starting to show.
Both Presidents also noted with satisfaction that the G20 made good progress in the field of financial regulation, including by addressing the risks of shadow banking. They added that regarding trade, the G20's anti-protectionism commitment to extend the Toronto standstill clause to 2016 was "very good news".