It seemed that the country-by-country tax reporting dossier had been put to bed after intense negotiations, with the committees on economic and monetary affairs (ECON) and legal affairs (JURI) of the European Parliament to take position on Monday 12 June, on the sidelines of the plenary session in Strasbourg. However, the ALDE group has revisited certain aspects of the legislative text.
Readers may recall that in order to protect companies from publication that may harm their commercial position by revealing sensitive information, the compromise between political groups provided for member states to have powers to authorise companies not to publish all details normally required of a subsidiary newly opened in a new country for two years (for instance, a range instead of actual annual turnover).
This exemption may also be extended for two years if this is not enough to protect the sensitive commercial information and competition. In exchange for this concession, the MEPs secured an agreement for the reporting information to be published on a country-by-country basis for the whole world, rather than on an aggregate basis from non-EU countries.
One of the co-rapporteurs, Belgium's Hugues Bayet (S&D), warned that no more changes would be made to the text after this concession to the right.
The proposal subsequently tabled by the ALDE group, of which EUROPE has had sight, basically states that the derogation to the publishing requirement may be granted on an annual basis, without the two-year limit provided for by the co-rapporteurs' compromise and without referring to the new subsidiary. In the Liberal text, the Commission would be tasked with ensuring that the derogation can actually be granted. The text is reported to have the support of the EPP and ECR.
This has enraged the S&D group, which intended to write to the leader of ALDE, Guy Verhofstadt, after a first letter a few weeks ago went unanswered. Everything will now depend on the voting list: if the ALDE compromise is voted through before that of the co-rapporteurs, it is highly likely that the latter will be left out. (Original version in French by Élodie Lamer)