On Wednesday 10 March, MEPs debated with the EU Council and the Commission, the lessons to be learned from the OpenLux investigation which revealed, in early February, that Luxembourg is home to 55,000 offshore companies managing assets worth at least €6.5 trillion (see EUROPE 12653/1).
“OpenLux points to problems which, by nature, have no borders. We need EU solutions”, said the EU Commissioner for Economy, Paolo Gentiloni.
The Commission services are currently working on proposals on the fight against tax evasion and on the publication of certain income tax information by large companies, he explained. The broad outlines of these initiatives are expected to be unveiled in the forthcoming ‘Communication on Business Taxation for the 21st century’ (see EUROPE 12672/22).
“My services are currently reflecting on an additional amendment of the anti-tax avoidance directive as soon as possible in order to tackle challenges of the use of shell companies in relation to tax avoidance”, he said.
Several MEPs, such as Sven Giegold (Greens/EFA, Germany) and Markus Ferber (EPP, Germany), welcomed Commissioner Gentiloni’s announcements, but stressed that the solution lay not only in the adoption of new measures, but also in the proper application of existing rules, including the launching of infringement proceedings, if necessary.
For the rest, MEPs expressed their exasperation with this new tax scandal. In a resolution adopted at the end of January, they already called for an end to the “absurdity” that EU countries cannot be on the list.
“Imagine a robber announcing their plan in advance, acting with their face uncovered, being filmed by a surveillance camera or even on social networks, and leaving their contact information behind. A heist in broad daylight from which they would emerge free and whose booty would be none other than our taxes. Do you think this is absurd? And yet this is what happens every day with tax evasion”, declared the MEP Manon Aubry (The Left, France).
“The ‘Open Lux’ scandal demonstrates what everyone already knows (...) What everyone knows, but is forbidden to say within the European institutions. It’s like something out of Harry Potter. With Luxembourg, which has become the tax haven whose name you are not allowed to speak”, she continued.
For her part, the Portuguese Secretary of State for European Affairs, Ana Paula Zacarias, reminded MEPs of a major recent success, namely the agreement in the EU Council on the proposal for a public country-by-country reporting which will oblige companies to make public certain accounting data such as their turnover or taxes paid (see EUROPE 12670/11).
In addition, the EU Council group monitoring the implementation of the EU Code of Conduct on business taxation has planned to make public more documents on this work, she said. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)