EP tax avoidance investigation

The European Parliament today adopted the final report concluding the investigation of its special committee on tax avoidance. Welcoming the vote, Greens/EFA co-president Philippe Lamberts said:

 “This investigation has shed light on the regulatory breakdown which allowed the large-scale tax avoidance by multinational corporations in Europe to occur. Luxembourg Leaks revealed one of the odious practices employed corporations to dodge their tax responsibility but the committee has highlighted some of the various problems in the current EU regulatory framework, as well as revealing which EU member states actively blocked progress on tax policy. Today’s report is comprehensive both in its analysis of the problems but also in setting out the necessary solutions, which EU policy-makers need to swiftly agree on. However, the final report adopted by the committee was clearly stronger (1) and we regret that centre-right political groups (notably the EPP and ALDE groups) fileted out some of the clear messages and watered-down the report at today’s plenary vote.

“One lingering frustration is the serious difficulty the committee had in accessing crucial documents from the European Commission and Council. This hampered the investigation and much of this obstruction was only resolved later in the term of the committee. As a consequence, there is some unfinished business and we are happy that this is now set to be taken up by the parliament’s forthcoming inquiry into the Panama Papers, which will begin next week.”

(1) More details on the report adopted by the committee http://www.greens-efa.eu/luxleaks-committee-delivers-final-verdict-15720.html