Important and necessary reforms are currently delayed by the European Council. After the heads of governments boasted with clear statements to impose a strong and effective regulation on the financial markets their reforming efforts lack progress. Many reform proposals by the Commission have been adopted by the Parliament years ago already but are still awaiting […]
Tax transparency: Country-by-Country reporting by commodity firms and automatic information exchange about capital income
There’s good news from Strasbourg. Overwhelmingly, the European Parliament yesterday has adopted the revision of the accounting and transparency directives (1). Corporations engaged in the exploitation of natural resources and primary forests are obliged now to reveal their profits and tax payments on a country-by-country basis. Since a long time country-by-country reporting is a central […]
Capital income information and tax evasion – Proposed extension of automatic information exchange an important step
The European Commission today set out a proposal to update EU rules on the automatic exchange of information, with a view to extending the system to include all kinds of capital income (1). The Greens welcomed the proposal, with economic affairs spokesperson Sven Giegold (DE) stating: “This proposal would be a further important step in […]
EU economic and budgetary oversight: Belated shift away from one-side austerity must become more comprehensive policy
The European Commission today presented its annual set of economic and fiscal policy recommendations to EU member states based on its assessment of national reform programmes, as part of the European Semester. The Greens have been consistently critical of the one-sided focus on fiscal consolidation and austerity and welcomed the Commission’s decision to relax its […]
Consultation on anti-money-laundering proposals
Earlier this year the European Commission published a proposal for revising the directive on money laundering and terrorist financing. As usual we are interested in comments from and insights of professionals and stakeholders. Is the Commissions’ assessment of the current situation appropriate? Are the proposals adequate to overcome the huge deficits in the fight against […]
FATCA hearing in the ECON committee
Tomorrow, on Tuesday 28 May at 15.30 the Economy and Financial Affairs Committee of the European Parliament will carry out a hearing on the question: The fight against tax evasion – FATCA as a step towards international automatic exchange of information? The debate on tax justice and untransparent international financial transactions had last been triggered […]