Brussels, 26/09/2013 (Agence Europe) - The European Union should organise the resistance against its global competitors in the Digital Strategy arena, an area in which it has fallen behind over recent years. In view of the forthcoming European Council on 24-25 October, focusing on digital issues, the French minister in charge of this dossier, Fleur Pellerin, organised a mini-European digital summit on 24 September, in an effort to prepare the groundwork with some of her counterparts (Poland, Italy, Spain, Germany, United Kingdom and Hungary) and Commissioner Neelie Kroes.
Several issues were treated during the informal meeting, such as the question of taxation involving some of the Internet giants such as Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon, which effectively escape regulatory and tax restraints due to their efficient tax optimisation techniques. They pay a small fraction of the taxes on the gargantuan profits they earn from their business activities in Europe. France put forward the idea of introducing a minimum Community tax band for corporation tax. Another suggestion involved a targeted tax on the Internet giants themselves. In a press release, the French MEP Marielle Gallo (EPP) also underlined the current imbalance in the way the wealth produced in the digital economy is distributed to the benefit of the US multinationals and the need to rectify this issue. The MEP stated that, “over the past few years, we have observed an unprecedented transfer of wealth from the content industries (most of which are domiciled in Europe and France) to the huge internet giants, thanks to the fiscal optimisation techniques they use” (our translation). Informal discussions also focus on the creation of a European venture capital fund for stimulating innovation and growth in the digital sector, as well as on the setting up of a European digital regulatory authority. (IL/transl.fl)