Brussels, 13/01/2016 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 13 January, the MEP Fabio De Masi (GUE/NGL, Germany) announced that he had submitted a complaint to the Court of Justice of the EU against the European Commission over its refusal to provide the special European Parliament committee on tax rulings (TAXE) with certain documents. The special committee had requested all of the documents of the 'Code of Conduct group on business taxation' as well as the minutes of the group's meetings.
“The Commission can no longer hide behind excuses on tax secrecy when withholding vast amounts of political information from elected members of Parliament”, De Masi commented. His complaint is based on a legal study commissioned by the GUE/NGL Group, which concludes that the Commission had failed to provide sufficient justification for the restrictions on document access imposed on the MEPs.
A Parliament source explained that a number of documents, covering a specific period between 2003 and 2009, were never made available to the MEPs, although this was partly due to time constraints. The minutes of the group's meetings were never forthcoming.
Earlier in the week, European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs Pierre Moscovici promised that certain documents would be given to the TAXE II special committee. If he were to receive the minutes of the meetings he requested, the GUE/NGL member could consider withdrawing his complaint.
As EUROPE went to press, the Commission had not clarified which documents it now plans to make available. (Original version in French by Elodie Lamer)