Debate on the Effectiveness of existing measures against tax evasion and money laundering in light of recent Panama paper revelations, during the EP plenary session (11-14 April 2016) in Strasbourg. Statements by Jeanine HENNIS-PLASSCHAERT, Dutch Minister of Defence, Pierre MOSCOVICI, Member of the EC in charge of Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs, Pablo ZALBA BIDEGAIN (EPP, ES), Giovanni PITTELLA (S&amp;D, IT), Bernd LUCKE (ECR, DE), Sylvie GOULARD (ALDE, FR), Fabio DE MASI (GUE/NGL, DE), and Philippe LAMBERTS (Greens/EFA, BE)

Strasbourg

debate

plenary session

PITTELLA, Gianni (S&D, IT)

LAMBERTS, Philippe (Greens/EFA, BE)

fight against tax fraud and evasion (T)

fight against organised crime, corruption and money laundering (T)

MOSCOVICI, Pierre (PSE, FR, EC)

GOULARD, Sylvie (ALDE, FR)

DE MASI, Fabio (GUE/NGL, DE)

HENNIS-PLASSCHAERT, Jeanine (ALDE, NL)

Effectiveness of existing measures against tax evasion and money laundering in light of recent Panama paper revelations: extracts from the debate

SOUNDBITE (English), Jeanine HENNIS-PLASSCHAERT, Dutch Minister of Defence, The EU itself is committed to the issue of exchange of information. We have gone even further than the OECD standards, and many consider us as front runners, which is good news. We have adopted a Directive on administrative cooperation that was recently complemented to cover tax rulings exchange and which will soon cover Country by Country Reporting (CBCR) between tax administrations as proposed in the Commission Anti-Tax Avoidance package.

SOUNDBITE (English), Jeanine HENNIS-PLASSCHAERT, Dutch Minister of Defence, In January the Commission issued a Communication on an External Strategy for Effective taxation as part of the Anti-Tax Avoidance package, amongst others proposing a common EU listing process to respond to third countries that refuse to respect tax good governance standards. The Presidency is striving to react swiftly to these proposals, explicitly taking into account the Panama Papers.

SOUNDBITE (English), Jeanine HENNIS-PLASSCHAERT, Dutch Minister of Defence, As you know, the Anti-Money Laundering Directive is very recent and is still being transposed by Member States. For certain areas however, it has become clear, already now, that targeted amendments are needed. For example, aimed at strengthening access to information such as access to bank and payments information by financial intelligence units, operationalising the list of high risk third countries, and in view of handling virtual currencies.

SOUNDBITE (French), Pierre MOSCOVICI, Member of the EC in charge of Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs, The Panama Papers are a wake-up call to Member States to say that they should be as ambitious as Commission and Parliament in combatting tax fraud, and we need reach an agreement soon on the issue.

SOUNDBITE (French), Pierre MOSCOVICI, Member of the EC in charge of Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs, We should work to establish proper pan-European list of tax havens. I have myself called for 6 months to achieve it.

SOUNDBITE (French), Pierre MOSCOVICI, Member of the EC in charge of Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs, We should also  step up our regulatory arsenal, we've already called for a review of the Anti-Money Laundering Directive in June this year, we should draw the lesson from the Panama Papers.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Pablo ZALBA BIDEGAIN (EPP, ES), The EPP group wants Mossack Fonseca and the government of Panama to come and speak before parliament as a number of other companies and countries have done in the TAXE Committee.

SOUNDBITE (Italian), Giovanni PITTELLA (S&amp;D, IT), S &amp; D Group leader, I call for an investigation, a committee of inquiry to be established in this parliament, so that we can do our utmost to fearlessly combat tax evasion.

SOUNDBITE (German), Bernd LUCKE (ECR, DE), Governments have known for a very long time, and in each country of the EU it has been known that this kind of tax avoidance is taking place, and that, Ladies and Gentlemen is the real scandal here.

SOUNDBITE (French), Sylvie GOULARD (ALDE, FR), I think that one of the added values of the EU should be to fight for the putting into place of sanctions, we are in order and this must spread globally.

SOUNDBITE (German), Fabio DE MASI (GUE/NGL, DE), We need an open register of these shell companies, we need proper corporate reporting for each of these countries, rather than the patchwork that we get from this blacklist, my group wants a permanent investigative committee on tax havens.

SOUNDBITE (French), Philippe LAMBERTS (Greens/EFA, BE), Greens/EFA Group leader, Ten days after the Panama Papers scandal hit the  news, the day after tomorrow there will be directive which, under the pretext of protecting commercial secrecy is going to make the work of journalists and whistle blowers impossible, and this is an insult to good sense and to democracy (applause).