As the interinstitutional negotiations (‘trilogues’) on the proposal for public country-by-country reporting begin on Monday 29 March, the lead negotiators for the European Parliament, Evelyn Regner (S&D, Austria) and Ibán García Del Blanco (S&D, Spain), were rather optimistic on Friday 26 March in front of the press.
“We are ready to defend the position in Parliament”, said Ms Regner.
“Positions may differ at any given time, but the truth is that they are not that far apart, and I am sure that we will reach an agreement during this Presidency”, said Mr García Del Blanco.
The negotiator for the Renew Europe group, Frenchman Stéphane Séjourné, was less optimistic that an agreement could be reached by June (see EUROPE 12680/21).
The first ‘trilogue’ is generally intended to allow each institution to restate its position and identify possible points of tension.
According to the position adopted in 2017 (see EUROPE 11822/1) and confirmed in first reading in 2019 by the European Parliament (see EUROPE 12223/13), the information requested from multinationals should be presented separately, including for each tax jurisdiction outside the EU.
Subsidiaries with revenues of 750 million euros or more should also be subject to country-by-country reporting requirements. Additional information should be provided in tax reports, such as information on the number of full-time employees, fixed assets, declared capital, preferential tax treatment or government subsidies.
Parliament also supported a safeguard clause for sensitive company data, allowing multinationals to temporarily withhold information where disclosure would seriously damage their commercial position. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)