On the evening of Monday 16 September, in Strasbourg, the political group coordinators for the European Parliament's Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) reached agreement in principle on the creation of a standing subcommittee on tax (see EUROPE 12326/26).
This is a real victory for the Greens/EFA, S&D and GUE/NGL groups, which actively supported its creation. “Every couple of years, we've had scandals from Lux Leaks to the Panama Papers and the Parliament has only been reactive through various ad hoc committees. Now, the Parliament is sending a strong message”, said MEP Molly Scott Cato (Greens/EFA, United Kingdom), in a statement.
It is now up to the Conference of Presidents of the Parliament (CoP) to approve the creation of the subcommittee, as well as its precise mandate and composition, which have not yet been decided. On Tuesday 17 September, several sources expressed confidence in the approval of the CoP.
However, one parliamentary source estimated that it would take at least two more weeks before a final decision was taken. The political groups must discuss the mandate and composition and come back to the CoP with a full proposal, the source explained.
The Greens/EFA Group, for example, would like a mandate similar to those of previous committees of inquiry, with a focus on combating tax evasion, financial crime and money laundering. The political groups will also have to discuss the possibility for the future sub-committee to issue opinions on legislative texts or only to draw up own-initiative reports. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)