The S&D Group has slammed the Liberal and Conservative Groups in the European Parliament for blocking attempts at providing meaningful tax transparency in Europe. The S&D Group finally abstained on a vote on country-by country reporting of company information after the EPP and ALDE Groups watered down the text to make it completely ineffective.

S&D Group negotiators for the so-called CBCR file Evelyn Regner and Hugues Bayet stated:

“We wanted strong laws to ensure that multinational companies pay their fair share of tax in Europe. However, the EPP and Liberals have attempted to put so many loopholes in the legislation that it is no longer fit for purpose. As with LuxLeaks or the Panama Papers, they are the first to pretend to be outraged when a scandal breaks about multinational tax evasion. However, when we can actually do something about it, they are nowhere to be seen.

“Thanks to the EPP, the dodgy deals exposed by LuxLeaks will now actually be protected in law. If we leave it to companies to disclose their data, they will never do so and we will have more scandals in the coming years. Ensuring transparency is the key to fight tax evasion and profit shifting. Rather than fighting for the interests of all European citizens, the Liberals and Conservatives have shown today that they are in the pocket of big business.

“We will never give up the fight for fair and transparent taxation in Europe and will take this fight on to the vote in plenary.”