Joinly meeting of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) and the Special Committee on Tax Rulings and Other Measures Similar in Nature or Effect (TAXE) in the EP&nbsp;in Brussels. Exchange of views and answers by Margrethe VESTAGER, Member of the EC in charge of Competition. Questions and remarks by Werner LANGEN (EPP, DE), Rapporteur, Ram&oacute;n J&Aacute;UREGUI ATONDO (S&amp;D, ES), Bernd LUCKE (ECR, DE), Nils TORVALDS (ALDE, FI).

Brussels

exchange of views

meeting

JÁUREGUI ATONDO, Ramón (S&D, ES)

fight against tax fraud and evasion (T)

Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs

LUCKE, Bernd (ECR, DE)

LANGEN, Werner (EPP, DE)

TORVALDS, Nils (Renew, FI)

VESTAGER, Margrethe (DK, CE)

Special Committee on Tax Rulings and Other Measures Similar in Nature or Effect

Exchange of views with Margrethe VESTAGER, Member of the EC in charge of Competition: extracts from the joint meeting

SOUNDBITE (English), Margrethe VESTAGER, Member of the EC in charge of Competition, "Our goal is common, it is ambitious, we will have to workhard to achieve it, we want competition to be fair most notably between multinationals and SMEs, they may compete door to door but as we see it, and the suspicions that we have, is of course that they do not share the same tax schemes."

SOUNDBITE (English), Margrethe VESTAGER, Member of the EC in charge of Competition, "What we can do with state aid control is to ensure that no company receives an unduly advantage, that there is no selectivity, no preferential treatment. I am strongly committed to use the state aid tool against any tax measures that seriously distort competition."

SOUNDBITE (English), Margrethe VESTAGER, Member of the EC in charge of Competition, "But state aid control also has its limits. If we really want change we also need more general measures to close the loopholes and to enable more transparency when it comes to corporate taxation. That is why the debate on the Commission's taxation action plan that you have just had with president Juncker and Moscovici is so important, we cannot do without it."

SOUNDBITE (German), Werner LANGEN (EPP, DE), Rapporteur, "If I use Amazon in Germany I pay 19% VAT, I get the invoice from Luxembourg , the VAT is repaid at the border cause the seat is in Luxembourg, and as it is clear from your investigation documents, the Luxembourg authorities only impose 0.05 and under that in tax, so that is more than a distortion of competition in favour of one company, that is very unfair ! and you are my only hope that something will finally happen in this area."

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Ram&#243;n J&#193;UREGUI ATONDO (S&amp;D, ES), "How can we ensure a fair level of competition when fiscal competence is a national competence and taking into account that the measures to attract companies and competition allos for different fiscal policies? Is it not time to create together with the Commissioner in charge of Economic Affairs a new European fiscal agency which can oversee tax harmonisation in Europe and ensure transparency and coherence in this field?"

SOUNDBITE (German), Bernd LUCKE (ECR, DE), "My question is how do you intent to distinguish between the legitimate right of member States who decide on an autonomous way on their tax rates without having to coordinate with other countries, and a distortion of competition which arises from the same tax rates?"

SOUNDBITE (English), Nils TORVALDS (ALDE, FI), "My conclusion would be the Commission does one thing with one hand and the other thing with the other hand, and the resulting situation regarding the level playing field and tax evasion and state aid is still up in the air."

SOUNDBITE (English), Margrethe VESTAGER, Member of the EC in charge of Competition, "I have not lost hope, I have strong beliefs, not only in my colleagues but also in you and in Member States to do the right thing, and I think it is very important for all of us to be guided by citizens saying this is not a fair situation."

SOUNDBITE (English), Margrethe VESTAGER, Member of the EC in charge of Competition, "On the question of how can we talk about level playing field we should not try to achieve the impossible and to neutralise everything, because it is still healthy that there is competition. But it shouldn't be unfair."

SOUNDBITE (English), Margrethe VESTAGER, Member of the EC in charge of Competition, "In the call for a clearing house or a new authority, it is important to take stock of what we have, and to make sure that we use that sufficiently before we start discussing or inventing something new because that may risk to take a lot of time before we then get there."