S&D Group president Gianni Pittella responded to the unfounded allegations about the future of the special TAXE committee, with the following statement:

"Philippe Lamberts, leader of the Greens in the European Parliament, and his colleague Sven Giegold are lying when they say we used an "underhand manoeuvre to block the extension of the European Parliament's tax investigation" and they know it. The priority of the S&D Group is to secure the adoption of the strongest possible European Parliament report on tax fraud and avoidance."

"Next week in Strasbourg, we will back the recommendations of the Ferreira and Theurer report, and afterwards we will demand a new TAXE committee. It was not legally possible today to extend the mandate of the committee and to vote next week on this well-advanced final report. We want to look at the future and call for a TAXE committee II. The facts demonstrate that the S&D Group is, and always will be, at the forefront of the battle against tax fraud. We won't accept any lessons from the champions of cheap politicking."