Sven Giegold

Green light for a permanent tax committee

Last night, coordinators in the Economic and Monetary Affairs committee of the European Parliament agreed to create a permanent sub-committee on tax and financial crime. The Conference of Presidents of the Parliament will now need to approve the sub-committee and the precise mandate has yet to be agreed. The sub-committee follows on from three special committees and an inquiry committee and is a long standing demand of the Greens/EFA group.

MEP Sven Giegold, financial and economic policy spokesperson of the Greens/EFA group commented:

“The decision is a victory for all of us who want to see an end to the dodgy tax practices and illicit activities that undermine the global financial system and fracture our societies.

“Now, finally the Parliament will have the tools to be proactive and stronger in the fight against tax avoidance, evasion and related financial crimes.

“Important reforms like improving EU anti-money laundering standards and updating tax rules for the digital economy are coming up soon. Therefore there will be plenty of work for the Parliament to ensure Member States deliver for EU citizens.

“Now it’s up to the new European Commission to show the same kind of ambition in the fight against tax avoidance and evasion.”

“Every couple of years, we’ve had scandals from Luxleaks to the Panama Papers and the Parliament has only been reactative through various ad hoc committees. Now, the Parliament is sending a strong message that it is on the side of European citizens and we can only fix our broken tax system if we work together at the European level.

“We will never achieve social justice without tax justice, which is why this is a victory for citizens for European parliament to finally create a permanent subcommittee on tax.

“Now is the time for all EU Member States to finally take the issue of tax evasion and avoidance seriously.”

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