Brussels, 20/11/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 20 November, the Commissioner for Competition, Margrethe Vestager, praised the journalistic work carried out in the framework of the revelations in the LuxLeaks affair on tax rulings in force in Luxembourg (EUROPE 11200) and how much this work has helped the Commission.
“I do admire the journalistic work that has been done in this case. It adds transparency and changes the debate on taxation in Europe. We consider it market information, can use it and we consider it is legitimate to do so”, Vestager said.
The Commissioner's priority is now to “finalise” the investigations opened by the Commission into the tax rulings in Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Ireland, practices which “are not illegal” in themselves, but could constitute illegal state aid under EU law, if the companies are treated differently.
The investigations will be concluded “fairly soon, as a priority, by the second quarter of 2015”, Vestager promised. She went on to explain that “there are lots of suspicions, but nothing has been proven yet”. Until the investigations have been concluded, therefore, the presumption of innocence must prevail. “It may be that no fiscal aid was given. If that is the case, it is not illegal from a competition point of view”, she said. She went on to stress that the Commission had not opened any particular procedure in order to take a closer look at any part which may have been played by major audit and advisory consultancies (the so-called big four) to help certain multinationals to bring tax optimisation to bear.
However, the Commissioner stressed that multinationals must pay their fair share of tax, hence the importance of the renovations of the LuxLeaks affair on tax rulings in force in Luxembourg in increasing “transparency” and encouraging political “momentum” in favour of tax harmonisation within the EU, through the creation of a common consolidated corporate tax base (CCCTB) and/or the introduction of an obligatory automatic exchange of information system on tax rulings. To achieve this, the “unanimity” of the member states is required, Vestager stressed. (MB)