Brussels, 09/04/2015 (Agence Europe) - A number of Greens/EFA MEPs at the European Parliament have written an open letter to Taxation Commissioner Pierre Moscovici, asking him why the European Commission didn't act when it had proof that member states were not exchanging information about tax rulings in the way they are required under the EU directive on administrative cooperation.
The letter was put online by British MEP Molly Scott Cato. It repeats the question she asked in the TAXE committee, when she quizzed the Commissioner about the fact that on 17 April 2012, the Commission's Code of Conduct Group said it was disappointed with the answers given by the member states to its questions about the automatic exchange of information. Scott Cato said that Belgium took the floor and stated it had not exchanged any information because it had not received any information from other member states. Later the Council legal service clarified that there was no such thing as a legal obligation for reciprocity in the directive on administrative cooperation (or the previous directive on mutual assistance). So there was clear evidence of a breach but there is no responding evidence of action taken to enforce member state obligations. The letter corrects the view of the Commissioner, who said that the Commission did not have power vis-à-vis the Code of Conduct. The Commissioner said that if adopted, it would become EU law, at which point any failure to comply would lead to infringements.
The open letter points out that the directive on administrative cooperation and the directive on mutual aid are EU legislation, and asks the Commissioner: “Are you ready to instruct your services NOW to introduce the first steps of infringement procedures? Yes or no?” The letter adds: “Can you also confirm that the current legal framework is sufficiently clear when it comes to information exchange obligations? This is in case the competent authority of a member state has grounds for supposing that there may be a loss of tax in the other member state, or has grounds for supposing that a saving of tax may result from artificial transfers of profits within groups of enterprises.”
The Greens/EFA group goes on: “We would like to repeat our call for you not to delay the adoption and entering into force of the new proposal to launch infringement procedures. As revolutionary as you might consider it to be, the current legal framework also provides binding obligations and you as Commissioner must take responsibility for the application of EU law.” The letter is signed by Scott Cato, Philippe Lamberts (Belgium), Eva Joly (France), Michel Reimon (Austria), Ernest Maragall and Ernest Urtasun (both of Spain) and Sven Giegold (Germany).
Commissioner Moscovici's office says it has not yet received the letter. (Elodie Lamer)