Vilnius, 16/09/2013 (Agence Europe) - The European Union must maintain a “high level of ambition” in the fight against tax evasion, said EU Taxation Commissioner Algirdas Semeta in Vilnius on Saturday 14 September, after a meeting of European finance ministers.
Semeta welcomed the decision by the G20 leaders in St Petersburg to make automatic exchange of bank information the norm - something currently being worked on by the OECD (see EUROPE 10916). He urged the EU's global partners to follow in the wake of the EU, noting that big progress was possible now that was unthinkable a few years ago. “Implementation is the next challenge”, he said, adding that negotiations with countries like Switzerland could not wait until all the details are settled at global level. He felt that data protection would be one key issue to be resolved. At European level, he called for rapid agreement on changes to the savings tax directive. (EL/transl.fl)