MEPs warn of ‘Panama scapegoat’

EU lawmakers doubt that an EU black list, on which the Commission is working, might be a game changer to tackle tax dodging. Bank activities should be better controlled as well as the role played by the EU member states such as the UK, Germany and still Luxembourg.

The members of European Parliament (MEPs), Frank Engel (centre-right) and Fabio De Masi (United Left), are not fully convinced that an EU black list on tax havens such as proposed by the Commissioner on Economic Affairs Pierre Moscovici might be able to bring along ambitious answers to the Panama Papers scandal.

“There were black lists in the past and at some point they were abandoned because everybody had made it off the black list,” according to the Engel.

Both Engel and De Masi explained that tax evasion was a worldwide problem, much more complex than pointing out specific countries like Panama.

“I do think Panama is a tax haven, but it would be unfair to focus only on Panama,” De Masi explained. “If we took the matter seriously, we would also need to put many European Union countries there,” he added.