First anniversary of the LuxLeaks scandal:
The government of the Netherlands is obstructing the investigations
On the occasion of a delegation visit of the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee (ECON) I gave a press conference in The Hague on the hindrance of the on-going investigation by the European Parliament of the LuxLeaks scandal. The Dutch government has forbidden the European Commission – unlike the majority of member states – to give the European Parliament access to key documents of the Code of Conduct group on business taxation. This group has been evaluating tax measures on their harmfulness for the common market since 1998. Without access to these documents it is impossible to establish why the scandal of aggressive tax avoidance by multinational corporations could continue for 20 years without serious countermeasures being taken. The press conference in The Hague was organised in cooperation with the Greens in the Dutch Parliament and its finance spokesperson Rik Grashoff. The Greens in the Dutch Parliament had managed to find a majority for a resolution to call on its government to “fully cooperate” with the TAXE investigation of the European Parliament. This is now being ignored by the government.
Sven Giegold, coordinator of the Greens in the special committee on tax avoidance TAXE of the European Parliament said in The Hague:
I call on the Dutch government to stop obstructing the investigation on aggressive tax avoidance. Jeroen Dijsselbloem is in a particular responsible. As chair of the Eurogroup and future president of the ECOFIN council he has to ensure transparency towards the European Parliament and give access to key documents. His answer to my personal question today was evasive and disappointing. European citizens have a right to know who stopped the European Commission to protect the integrity of the common market. After hundreds of billions of lost tax income responsibilities have to be established.
It is also unacceptable that the Dutch government does not support the result of the state aid case against Starbucks. The European Commission has now finally started taking seriously fiscal state aid and repayment of illegal state aid. The Dutch government should support the new strict rules in the interest of a fair market rather than considering an appeal in court. Small and medium sized corporations and honest taxpayers were put at a disadvantage by aggressive tax avoidance offered by tax havens such as Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Jeroen Dijsselbloem has to decide whether he wants to stay this tax haven’s harbour master or to come back to the principles of a social democracy.
Details on the obstructive behaviour of the Dutch as well as the Luxembourg government you find in my presentation: https://sven-giegold.de/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/netherlands_luxembourg_obstructing_investigation.pdf