At a public meeting on 25 February, the EU Competitiveness Council reached a common position on a key instrument to tackle corporate tax avoidance, so-called public country-by-country reporting for multinational companies.

After near 5 years of dithering, EPSU welcomes the positive move, driven by the Portuguese EU presidency.

If adopted, the directive will end the secrecy on corporate tax avoidance and is likely to raise more tax revenues to finance public services.

EPSU’s General Secretary says: “This result is thanks to a large mobilisation of tax justice organisations and trade unions who have joined up forces for tax fairness and transparency. Despite the opposition of some governments, it is very encouraging that most came out in favour. We call on the EU ambassadors to adopt the text next week.”

The proposal will strengthen trade unions’ negotiating power with management who will have to disclose where and how much their companies make profit and where and how much tax they pay or not.

Hundreds of billions of euros continue to be siphoned off to tax havens including in the EU. They must go back to where they belong: to finance our welfare state and our health and social care services. The Covid19 pandemic has underlined how underfunded these public services are after years of austerity.

The EU ambassadors are expected to approve the proposal by 3 March clearing the way for Parliament, which adopted its position in 2017, and Council to negotiate and adopt a final text (trilogue process).

In the next few months, EPSU and the tax justice movement will continue fighting hard to close the loopholes in the draft directive and make it an effective tool to stop tax dumping.