Brussels, 02/06/2016 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 2 June, the Conference of the Presidents of the political groups at the EP approved the creation, for one year, of a committee of investigation following the Panama Papers scandal. The mandate, which had been negotiated in advance between the political groups, will be put to the vote at the plenary session of 8 June.
The mission of the committee of investigation is to look at the presumed shortcomings of EU law regarding money laundering, tax evasion and tax avoidance. In order to do so, it will look primarily at the implementation of the third anti-money laundering directive (2005/60/EC), but also at the directive on administrative cooperation (2011/16/EU), in particular its provisions on the spontaneous exchange of information. For this, according to the mandate, the committee of investigation will have access to all relevant documents, “including relevant documents of the Code of Conduct group obtained during” the existence of the special committees on tax rulings and similar measures, TAXE1 and TAXE2. This issue has been a bone of contention between the political groups at the EP.
Eva Joly (Greens/EFA, France) welcomed the fact that the mandate approved will “broadly follow the one tabled last month” by her group. “This committee should be able to start its work soon (most likely in September: Ed) and, interestingly, it will be able to continue the investigations of the special committee on LuxLeaks”, the scandal which revealed how tax rulings had allowed multinationals to reduce their tax bills significantly. On behalf of the GUE/NGL group, Germany's Fabio De Masi however said that the political responsibility for LuxLeaks could not be resolved with TAXE2 and would not be part of this committee of investigation.
The committee of investigation will focus “on cooperation between the States and on the role of intermediaries, including those in the financial sector and law firms”, said Joly. The Commission communication on intermediaries is anticipated for early July, along with amendments to the anti-money laundering directive. “We want full transparency and sanctions for those who help individuals and companies to evade tax”, declared the President of the S&D group, the Italian MEP Gianni Pittella. A European Commission source, however, said that it is “too early” to be proposing sanctions. The EPP group is theoretically expected to hold the chairmanship of the committee, but France's Alain Lamassoure, currently the chair of TAXE2, has already said that he will not stand. The composition of the committee of investigation and 65 members will be voted on in plenary at a later date. (Original version in French by Élodie Lamer)