Brussels, 02/06/2015 (Agence Europe) - To tackle tax evasion and illegal flows of capital in developing countries, MEPs on the European Parliament Development Committee launched an appeal on Monday 1 June, for companies in all the different countries of the world to adopt reporting declarations and make these statements public.
This is the main thrust of the report unanimously adopted by members of this committee on “tax evasion and fiscal fraud, the challenges for governance, social protection and development in developing countries”.
The European Parliament will give its verdict during the July plenary session (6-9 July), a few days before the third UN conference on development financing (Addis-Ababa, 13-16 July).
Elly Schlein (S&D, Italy), the rapporteur, stated: “Given the importance of improving the earmarking of national resources and the problems confronting developing countries when they want to tackle tax evasion and fiscal fraud, we need a list of robust recommendations that Parliament support in view of the Addis Ababa finance development conference”.
MEPs are calling on the European Investment Bank (EIB), European Bank For Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the national financial institutions funding development to monitor the companies and other legal bodies receiving their assistance, to ensure that they are not participating in tax evasion or fiscal fraud by way of intermediaries in offshore centres and tax havens and by facilitating illegal capital flows.
The European Commission is called on to swiftly put forward an ambitious action plan to help developing countries tackle the serious problems and establish efficient and transparent tax systems. MEPs also believe that all the multinationals listed or not listed in or the different countries and sectors of activity, particularly those in the mining of natural resources, adopt reporting statements. (Aminata Niang)