The 28 finance ministers of the European Union have shown their willingness Saturday to intensify the fight against tax evasion in response to the scandal “Panama Papers”, but with differences on the extent of the effort transparency to require multinational companies.
After the scandal of international concern, including the cascading revelations fueling chronic for three weeks, “the sense of urgency is clearly much more important (… ), everyone is very committed to fill the gaps, “said Jeroen Dijsselbloem Saturday, Dutch finance minister, whose country holds the EU’s rotating presidency.
” We have been very busy we fight each other on our tax systems, so that our countries are as attractive as possible for investors. Now we got to the point that large companies tend to not pay taxes, “he said.
During the open meeting Friday in Amsterdam, all Ministers endorsed the initiative launched it ten days ago by five European countries (Germany, Spain, France, Italy and Great Britain) to try the automatic exchange of information within the EU, to identify beneficiaries front companies.
“There is a common will, assumed proclaimed fight against anonymous mechanisms” not to know who is behind these companies, said the french finance minister Michel Sapin.
at present, financial arrangements can create legal structures (individual limited liability company, trust, foundation …) concealing the identity of the real beneficiary, blurring the tracks and greatly complicate the task of tax authorities.
the 28 finance ministers also approved the eventual creation of a single black list, common to all EU tax havens, as wishes the European Commissioner for economic Affairs Pierre Moscovici, who spoke of a goal “by the end of summer”
-. “Breaking this vicious circle” –
the negotiations will be difficult, the Member States have widely varying policies on tax havens. It will initially define a common method to identify which could be included on such a list. Proposals will be submitted to the 28 ministers at a forthcoming meeting in May.
About the incentive to more fiscal transparency by multinationals, the EU’s Dutch Presidency assured that it would launch “next week” discussions between Member States on the Brussels proposal to give public access to key accounting and tax data for large companies.
Jeroen Dijsselbloem no secret that reservations had been expressed in Amsterdam among the 28 on the proposal of the Commission unveiled on 12 April. “There are obviously different assessments on this issue,” he said, stressing that one should not expect an agreement before the second half under the Slovak Presidency.
“I think we should not overreact on it in full hysteria on Panama,” said the Austrian Minister Hans-Jörg Schelling. His counterparts in Malta, Belgium and Germany have also expressed reservations with different arguments.
Britain in particular, France is among the countries that support members ‘wide publicity’ on the activity of large companies (with annual turnover amounts to at least EUR 750 million), ensured his side Michel Sapin.
According to him, it takes more advanced subordinate on this topic in Europe that the United States also practice transparency, while the specific regulatory conditions offered by some US states such as Delaware (east), attracting many companies are regularly criticized.
In absolute terms, “we need international harmonization, but it should not be expected (…) you have to break this vicious circle” meaning that “for 20 or 30 years we will be told + later + because the world does not do, “said the french minister.
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