This morning the Conference of Presidents of the European Parliament (i.e. the President of Parliament and the political group chairmen and -women, CoP) shortly discussed and then postponed our Green proposal for a full inquiry committee into tax evasion and dumping in Europe following the Luxemburg Leaks revelations.
Prior to the CoP meeting, the heads of Christian Democrats/Conservatives, Social Democrats and Liberals announced that they would not block an inquiry committee. Earlier, the leadership of those three groups had opposed an inquiry committee. The Conference of Presidents followed the President of the European Parliament Schulz´s proposal to first conduct a purely legal examination in the following order:
1.) European Parliament´s (EP) services check the signatures.
2.) EP’s legal service checks the legal basis and compatibility with internal rules and the treaties.
3.) On 5th February, the Conference of Presidents will debate the draft mandate. On the same day, the adoption of the mandate for an inquiry committee is foreseen. As a final step the plenary of the Parliament has to approve the proposal.
Statistics on supporters of the inquiry committee
Country Signatures Members Percentage
BE 6 21 29%
BG 0 17 0%
CZ 5 21 24%
DK 4 13 31%
DE 45 96 47%
EE 2 6 33%
EI 6 11 55%
EL 7 21 33%
ES 22 54 41%
FR 25 74 34%
HR 2 11 18%
IT 22 73 30%
CY 2 6 33%
LV 2 8 25%
LT 1 11 9%
LU 1 6 17%
HU 2 21 10%
MT 0 6 0%
NL 3 26 12%
AT 4 18 22%
PL 1 51 2%
PT 8 21 38%
RO 0 32 0%
SI 2 8 25%
SK 1 13 8%
SU 2 13 15%
SE 7 20 35%
GB 7 73 10%
Lux Leaks signatures/ Analysis by political group
EPP 20/219 9,1%
S&D 31/191 16,2%
ECR 11/71 15,5%
ALDE 14/68 20,6%
GUE/NGL 50/52 96,2%
V/ALE 50/50 100%
EFDD 17/48 35,4%
NI 1/1 100%
For further background:
https://sven-giegold.de/2015/luxleaks-inquiry-committee-wins-cross-political-support/