EP tax investigation continued

The European Parliament's conference of presidents today agreed to create a new special committee on taxation to last 6 months, with a new mandate based largely on the mandate of the previous committee and the same structure. Commenting after the conference of presidents, Greens/EFA president Philippe Lamberts said:

"This new committee has a strong mandate, which will enable us to continue the important parliamentary investigation into corporate tax avoidance and dumping. After the Kafkaesque procedural wrangling by EP president Schulz and others, we are happy that the European Parliament will be able to continue to play an important role investigating the biggest tax scandal in the history of the EU. It is important for the democratic legitimacy of the EU institutions that this investigation is properly concluded and that it is able to properly establish who bears political responsibility for this tax dumping, as well as proposing measures to ensure this never happens again."

Greens/EFA tax policy spokesperson Sven Giegold added:

"This new committee must take off where the original committee investigating tax dumping left off. It must continue with a serious investigation and insist on accessing the large number of crucial documents from the Commission and Council, which were withheld from the initial committee. EU Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker and Eurogroup chair Jeroen Dijsselbloem must be recalled to provide evidence in light of new information regarding the roles of their governments in preventing EU action on tax dumping while they were finance ministers in their respective countries. The committee must also maintain pressure on the Commission to come forward with the necessary legislative proposals to address tax dumping and corporate tax avoidance."