Parliament’s call for corporate transparency key to financing the fight against extreme poverty

BRUSSELS, 16 DECEMBER 2015. Today, members of the European Parliament adopted a report with recommendations to the Commission on bringing transparency, coordination and convergence to corporate tax policies in the Union.

In this report led by Anneliese Dodds (UK, S&D) and Luděk Niedermayer (Czech Republic, EPP), MEPs call on the Commission to propose legislation that will oblige all European multinational companies to publicly report their taxes and other financial information for every country in which they operate.

Tamira Gunzburg, Director of ONE Brussels, said:

“We welcome the Parliament’s call for legislation that will oblige all European multinational companies to publicly report their taxes for every country in which they operate. Public access to this information would allow tax authorities and citizens in developing countries to follow the money and ensure that taxes due are paid.

This could unleash unprecedented domestic resources for governments in developing countries, which currently lose at least $1 trillion every year through illicit financial flows including tax evasion. With EU Member States’ budgets under pressure, this is the kind of innovative approach we need to finance the fight against extreme poverty.”

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Notes to editors:

• Contact, information &interviews – Andrea Ghianda // [email protected] // +32 (0)2 300 89 42 // +32 (0)471 89 64 22
• The European Parliament has been consistently leading the call for public disclosure of large multinationals’ financial information on a country-by-country basis. It did so in its tax avoidance and tax evasion in developing countries report, in its position on the revision of the Shareholders Rights Directive and, most recently, in its tax rulings report. Today’s recommendations will be the fourth time this year. The European Commission conducted a public consultation on the subject – 88% of the responses supported public disclosure – and is expected to come up with an impact assessment and legislative proposal in early 2016.
• ABOUT ONE: ONE is a campaigning and advocacy organisation of nearly 7 million people taking action to end extreme poverty and preventable disease, particularly in Africa. Not politically partisan, we raise public awareness and press political leaders to combat AIDS and preventable diseases, increase investments in agriculture and nutrition, and demand greater transparency in poverty-fighting programmes. Read more at one.org.