Dear correspondents,
On Wednesday the negotiators of the political groups will negotiate the mandate for a new special committee on tax evasion, money laundering and tax avoidance. The new committee is the successor of TAXE, TAXE2 and the PANA inquiry committee. Greens/EFA as most other political groups have proposed draft mandates. If an agreement can be found, Thursday’s Conference of Presidents can propose it to the plenary immediately. On Thursday the plenary can already vote the mandate. The committee members could then be adopted on the 1st of March and start with its work.
Sven Giegold, co-initiator of the former TAXE/PANA committee and negotiator of the Greens/EFA group for the mandate:
“The pressure of the Parliament for tax justice in Europe is still needed. The former special committees have contributed successfully to the progress for tax cooperation in Europe during the last years. This pressure of the Parliament has to continue. The Paradise Papers scandal has not had any new political consequences neither in the EU nor in the Member States. The new tax haven blacklist of the EU lacks credibility and transparency. We will demand full access to all documents concerning the blacklist in order to research any politically motivated special treatment for some states on the list. We also have to follow closely the setting up of the strengthened EU blacklist of non-cooperative money laundering jurisdictions. The mistakes of the tax haven blacklist may not be repeated.”
The draft mandate of the Green/EFA group can be found here:
https://sven-giegold.de/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Greens-EFA-Draft-mandate-special-committee-on-taxation-V2-31.01.2018.pdf