The next time the treaties are revised, the unanimity of decisions on taxation issues should be re-examined, the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, told the MEPs of the 'Panama Papers' committee of investigation.
It will be necessary to examine the possibility of bringing in the qualified majority rule, otherwise we will never make progress in tax matters, he said. However, unanimity will be needed to change the unanimity rule, Juncker previously explained during his campaign for the Presidency of the Commission in 2014.
When asked by MEP Sven Giegold (Greens/EFA, Germany) whether the Commission could use article 116 of the Treaty to get around this unanimity status quo, Juncker replied in the affirmative. This article allows the Commission to propose directives under the ordinary legislative procedure, if it notes that a disparity between the legislative, regulatory or administrative provisions of the member states are distorting competition conditions on the single market. This idea is reported to have the approval of France and Germany.
The day before, the Greens/EFA group published a report that once again attacks the Commission President and former Prime Minister and finance minister of Luxembourg over the country's taxation practices.
The report by the Greens/EFA explained that the Luxembourg financial industry had managed to get around the rules on tax on savings by converting private bank accounts into bank accounts held by shell companies registered in tax havens (Cayman Islands, Panama, Jersey, Guernsey), according to the co-chair of the group, Philippe Lamberts (Belgium). Thanks to Luxembourg's veto, the directive on tax on savings will effectively apply only to interest payments in favour of physical persons and not to those in favour of legal persons (such as trusts, trustees, foundations and similar structures), the Belgian MEP went on to explain.
When questioned by MEP Dariusz Rosati (EPP, Poland) about the fact that a small number of countries were still cited in the tax scandals, Juncker explained that this was all in the past. “Things have changed, the world has changed”, he added. He went on to stress that the political authorities of Luxembourg did not approve the tax agreements entered into with multinationals, unlike other countries. He also said that he did not intervene in the work of his Commissioners (for Taxation or Competition).
Later on, replying to Giegold, he asked to be judged on the actions of his Commission and not on the past, stressing that 12 draft directives had been proposed during his term in office. MEP Louis Michel (ALDE, Belgium), a former member of the first Barroso Commission, leapt to his defence, stressing that the amount of work carried out by the Juncker Commission was “colossal”.
A proposed directive on financial intermediaries is anticipated for June. Juncker hopes that it will be in force from 2019. (Original version in French by Élodie Lamer)