On Thursday 15 June, the European Parliament adopted by 465 votes to 5 with 6 abstentions the own-initiative report on the lessons learned from the Pandora Papers and other revelations. Although the text was broadly approved in committee (see EUROPE 13146/37), certain amendments were overwhelmingly rejected by the EPP, in particular the one concerning a request for a minimum tax on capital gains at the European level.
In a press release, Niels Fuglsang (S&D, Danish) regretted the right’s U-turn: “We deplore the conservatives’ moves against tax justice”. “Considering the lack of progress in reforms since this, biggest ever, leak of offshore papers, this is absolutely disgraceful. The European People’s Party refuses to acknowledge the tax inequality that we witnessed with the Pandora Papers scandal”, he continued.
However, the EPP shadow rapporteur for the text, the Italian Herbert Dorfmann, had supported the text the day before during the debate: “We’re taking money away from people that belongs to them, and we need to ask ourselves questions about our own rules”. He spoke out in favour of fair tax competition and more fair cooperation, exchange of information and a framework for withholding tax.
Contacted by EUROPE after the vote, the shadow rapporteur and draftsman of the opinion, Damien Carême (Greens/EFA, French), tried to explain the vote. “The EPP is used to this: we find compromises with a lot of discussion, we negotiate internally and add amendments, but they vote against in the end”, he commented. “I too could have kept my hard lines”, he added.
However, he said he was “very pleased” with the text drawn up by Mr Fuglsang, as “this is the first time that a ruling has been given on the Pandora papers”. Although he felt that the text had been “watered down”, particularly with regard to the taxation of capital gains, he was delighted that his amendment on audit firms and tax evasion had been adopted. Mr Carême tabled this amendment recently, following the tax scandal in Australia, when confidential data was leaked.
During the debate, the European Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders, reiterated the Commission’s relentless commitment to tax fairness and the protection of journalists. In his view, it is “necessary to keep on improving legislation” and to “do more on beneficial ownership and EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes”.
The Commission would also be in favour of extending the mandate of the Council’s Code of Conduct Group on Taxation to personal and capital income taxation. It is currently only working on harmful corporate tax regimes (see EUROPE 13199/20).
Read the text: https://aeur.eu/f/7ir (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)