Under pressure from the European Parliament, the EU Commission has submitted a far-reaching proposal on tax transparency for large companies. According to the proposal, large companies should publish country-by-country where they generate how much profit and taxes they pay. This proposal of ‘country-by-country reporting’ was a great success for us Greens in the European Parliament, which we achieved together with Social Democrats, the Left and some Liberals and Christian Democrats. But now documents of the German Federal Government from the secret negotiations of the Council of Member States show that especially Germany rejects the proposal for public tax transparency of large companies. This is particularly bitter because, unlike other tax laws in the EU, the proposal does not require unanimity in the Council. Transparency laws can be passed by majority vote.
MEP Sven Giegold, financial and economic policy spokesperson of the Greens/EFA group commented:
‘Social Democratic Finance Minister Scholz is preventing in Berlin what we have won together with Social Democrats in Brussels. It fuels frustration with Europe that he has personally supported the blockade of tax transparency. The grand coalition must finally side with tax transparency. It is also a serious mistake in European policy terms to once again stab France in the back. Because France supports tax transparency just like Italy, Spain and even the UK. Only thanks to the German blockade tax havens like Ireland and Luxembourg can hope for a blocking minority. We need a success before the European elections! European tax transparency would be a good antidote to Eurosceptics.’
Article in the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung: https://www.sueddeutsche.de/wirtschaft/steuertransparenz-eu-country-by-country-reporting-1.4339940