Press conference by Philippe LAMBERTS (BE), Greens/EFA Co-president (and others) on the Inquiry Committee on Panama Papers - Launch of the European Platform for Whistleblowers, in the EP in Brussels. Statements by Philippe LAMBERTS (Greens/EFA, BE), Co-Chair of the Greens/EFA Group, Michel REIMON (Greens/EFA, AT), Sven GIEGOLD (Greens/EFA, DE), Eva JOLY (Greens/EFA, FR).

Brussels

LAMBERTS, Philippe (Greens/EFA, BE)

press conference

fight against tax fraud and evasion (T)

Panama Papers inquiry committee

GIEGOLD, Sven (Greens/EFA, DE)

JOLY, Eva (Greens/EFA, FR)

REIMON, Michel (Greens/EFA, AT)

Inquiry Committee on Panama Papers - Launch of the European Platform for Whistleblowers: extracts from the press conference by Philippe LAMBERTS (BE), Greens/EFA Co-president (and others)

SOUNDBITE (English), Philippe LAMBERTS (Greens/EFA, BE), Co-Chair of the Greens/EFA Group, We are delighted to announce today the creation of EULeaks that is a platform that will allow whistle-blowers to do what they want to do in a more easy and straightforward way.

SOUNDBITE (English), Philippe LAMBERTS (Greens/EFA, BE), Co-Chair of the Greens/EFA Group, This platform has a simple concept, it allows individuals to deposit material in a totally confidential way.

SOUNDBITE (English), Philippe LAMBERTS (Greens/EFA, BE), Co-Chair of the Greens/EFA Group, What is a bit new about this initiative is that contrary to WikiLeaks for instance, this platform is coupled with expertise. In other terms, in the receiving end you have, and we are making no mystery about that, we have the Green group in the EP, that has quite a lot of expertise to actually exploit the material that we are going to receive.

SOUNDBITE (English), Sven GIEGOLD (Greens/EFA, DE), We don&rsquo;t want a new consultation by the EC for European Whistle-Blower protection, but we want a legislative proposal and we want it now and Mr Juncker is under particular personal responsibility to deliver this proposal now.

SOUNDBITE (English), Philippe LAMBERTS (Greens/EFA, BE), Co-Chair of the Greens/EFA Group, , It is not about political exploitation, it&rsquo;s about defending the general interest and I would like to stress that we, elected politicians, are elected to defend the general interest, this is our job. Of course I would have loved the EP to create such a platform, we would support that enthusiastically, but let's face it: it did not happened.

SOUNDBITE (English), Michel REIMON (Greens/EFA, AT), Of course we do not intend to compete with journalists. What we offer here is that we can bring political proof to some papers, can check them, and then forward them.

SOUNDBITE (English), Sven GIEGOLD (Greens/EFA, DE), We are here not as a party but as elected representatives with a good track record in very different fields.

SOUNDBITE (French), Eva JOLY (Greens/EFA, FR), What is important now is that the project exists, that it's solid and that we are addressing people and offering them a communication tool which is secure and that guarantees anonymity. And we at the other end of the operation are promising that we will take strong action on the information we gather.