Debate: Pandora Papers: implications on the efforts to combat money laundering, tax evasion and avoidance
Date: WEDNESDAY, 6 OCTOBER 2021
Speaker: Anže Logar
Language: EN

Revelations of this kind are not new, and have in fact regularly appeared in the media in the past few years. The most recent data gathered in the context of the Pandora Papers should be the subject of further analysis by all the institutions concerned, in particular Member States, to find out whether illegal operations have indeed taken place.  Of course, it is not up to the Council to pronounce itself on any specific case mentioned in the most recent revelation. But this revelation shows once more how important the ongoing efforts in the area of fighting tax fraud and evasion remain. The EU will continue to strongly support work in this field.  Since the Council has started working on this issue, we have reached quite some progress in the area of fighting evasive practices over the last few years, be it in the area of money laundering or in the field of taxation. Regarding anti-money laundering. On financial secrecy, a lot of progress has been made on enhancing financial transparency through the successive anti—money laundering directives. One of the aspects that merits highlighting in the introduction of the Member States of publicly available register for companies, trusts and other legal arrangements, which has already yielded some results. In this context, I would also like to mention the anti-money laundering package that the Council has received over the summer. One of the aims of the package is to close loopholes used by criminals to launder illicit proceeds through the financial systems. The article by article examination of the proposal is ongoing in the competent working parties, and even through this will require thorough discussion. The Council is determined to move towards a mandate for negotiation with the Parliament in a swift manner. Regarding tax transparency. In the area of taxation there has been significant progress on transparency. Thanks to the various directives in the field of administrative cooperation, the so-called DAC Directive, Member States have the tools to exchange a wide array of data relating to taxation.  Thanks to DAC 6 on cross-border aggressive tax planning, for instance, intermediaries are now under an obligation to report dubious schemes to tax authorities. Administrative cooperation is regarded as a priority in the fight against aggressive tax planning worldwide. Exchange of information is essential between Member States as well as with third countries.  The two anti-tax avoidance directives have also given an impetus to make the use of shell companies less attractive by introducing rules and controlled foreign companies and hybrid mismatches, just to name a few aspects.  In this context, I think that the forthcoming legislative proposal targeted to the use of shell companies will be particularly relevant, and we are looking forward to receiving it from the Commission as soon as possible.  The EU is also contributing in the move towards more transparency through the significant global influence of the EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes. Since 2017, through a cooperative approach coupled with the necessary deterrence, the EU has been able to convince a large number of third countries to become more transparent and limit the effect of their taxation regime on other countries.  Of course, the work is not finished and the Code of Conduct Group will continue to engage with dozens of third countries to improve tax transparency, also in coordination with the OECD. Focusing more specifically on the fight against tax avoidance, one of the work strands in the OECD discussions on digital taxation is a global minimum effective tax rate – the so-called globe, which could reshape global taxation arrangement in a fundamental way.  In its conclusions of November last year, the Council spoke out in favour of a global deal, and I sincerely hope that the statement that is being negotiated will garner as much support as possible at the OECD and G20 so that an agreement can be implemented globally in the coming years.  Thank you very much for giving me the possibility to share and to listen today’s discussion, and to explain the Council’s point of view and lines of action in this extremely topical subject.