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EU Blacklist Tax Havens – Update

Blacklist

Rectification of the five-week-old EU blacklist

European Union Finance Ministers today agreed to remove 8 countries from the said list, barely 5 weeks after the publication of the EU blacklist of tax havens. These are Panama, Barbados, Grenada, South Korea, Macao, Mongolia, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates, which had made “high-level commitments” to the EU to make their tax systems more transparent and to counter tax evasion after the list was published in December. However, the countries in question remain “under observation” on a “grey list”, with other countries having made corresponding commitments to the EU but still awaiting implementation. As was to be expected, this move has provoked widespread outrage. The Panama case in particular makes this clear:

Panama Papers get things rolling

The Panama Papers revelations brought to light a gigantic scale of dubious tax practices worldwide and provided the impetus for the creation of the aforementioned EU blacklist. Commentators now note that it is an “indictment” to remove a country like Panama from the list at the price of a mere declaration of intent before it has delivered concrete results. In any case, the list was accused from the outset of being an actionist measure: not a single European country was included in it, and such a list would mean no more than sabre-rattling if the naming did not entail sanctions for the countries concerned.

Lobbying with success

In fact, it looks as if today’s decision to amend the EU blacklist was the result of intensive lobbying. In the case of Tunisia, it is said that mere violations of deadlines led to the listing. The listing is said to have been “not well thought out” in terms of neighbourly development in Europe, or even to prevent Tunisia’s democratic development. South Korea, under fire for setting up “special (tax-privileged) economic zones”, criticised that the listing on the EU blacklist violated its tax sovereignty and thus international standards. The United Arab Emirates, on the other hand, as a Western security partner and export partner for high-value European goods such as military equipment, said it was “surprised” to be named on the list.

EU blacklist serves its purpose

EU officials, on the other hand, emphasise positive developments through the publication of the EU blacklist. Fewer entries on the blacklist would mean that more countries would commit to the principle of fiscal transparency. It remains to be seen how the instrument of the EU blacklist will continue to be used. At present, a “tougher stance”, as demanded by activists in the fight against tax evasion, is not to be expected. Although originally promised by EU Tax Commissioner Pierre Moscovici, there will, for example, be no publication of the individual obligations that led to the re-recognition of tax haven status.

Related article

Read our latest article on the publication of the EU blacklist here.
Sources and further articles

https://www.ft.com

https://www.politico.eu

https://www.euractiv.com

Hint: This text has been translated by an AI (German > English). Slight errors may occure.