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11th Dec 2023

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Tax avoidance and AI in focus This WEEK

  • Planned new rules are aimed at providing more transparency on what, and where, taxes are being paid, and making the issue of legal tax evasion more visible (Photo: Matthew Tempest)

On Tuesday (1 June), negotiators from the three EU institutions will try to agree on new rules requiring multinational companies to disclose the amount of tax they pay, their profits, and the number of employees they have in each EU country.

The so-called country-by-country reporting rules are aimed at providing more transparency on what - and where - taxes are being paid, and making the issue of legal tax avoidance more visible.

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Ultimately the goal is to get companies to pay taxes in the country where they carry out their activities.

MEPs from the civil liberties committee on Thursday (3 June) will adopt a reporting assessing the EU Commission's first annual rule of law report published last September.

The commission is already in progress on drawing up a new report for this year's assessment.

On Monday (31 May), the parliament's subcommittee and security and defence will hear from commissioner for crisis management, Janez Lenarčič on how much the EU is prepared against chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats.

On Monday, the committee will also meet with commission vice-president Margrethe Vestager to talk about cooperation between the civil, defence and space industries.

On Wednesday (2 June), the parliament's special committee on artificial intelligence and the internal market committee will discuss the commissions AI proposals with Vestager.

The parliament is also gearing up for its first plenary in Strasbourg, in June, since the start of the pandemic last year.

MEPs will vote there on Covid-19 travel certificates, the rule-of-law in the EU, on waiving the patent for Covid-19 vaccines, and on the Czech prime minister's conflict of interest.

EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen will meet with several prime ministers next week, after the majority of member states have ratified the legislation needed to start the Covid-19 recovery fund.

On Tuesday, the commission chief will meet with Swedish prime minister Stefan Löfven and on Wednesday evening she will receive Dutch PM Mark Rutte.

On Thursday morning, von der Leyen will meet with Lithuanian premier Ingrida Šimonytė.

Friday she will meet Slovenian president Borut Pahor, whose country will take over the EU's rotating presidency in July.

On Thursday (3 June), a new Eurobarometer survey will be released, on what Europeans think about the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on citizens' personal lives and financial situation, as well as on the EU's response.

EU Commission eyes unified corporate tax, again

The previous two efforts for a unified corporate tax framework have run into the ground, because the unanimity required by the member states to agree such a scheme was unachievable. Ireland, Denmark, Luxembourg, Malta, Sweden and the Netherlands were opposed.

Luxembourg tax scandal may prompt EU action

An investigation into Luxembourg's tax regime has uncovered how the Italian mafia, the Russian underworld, and billionaires attempt to stash away their wealth. The European Commission has put itself on standby amid suggestions changes to EU law may be needed.

EU-China summit and migration files in focus This WEEK

This week, EU and Chinese leaders will meet in Beijing to discuss how to cooperate in the international area despite their rivalry. Meanwhile, a marathon trilogue on the five migration files takes place on Thursday.

UN climate talks and passengers' right in focus This WEEK

The two-week UN climate talks (#COP28) will kick off on Thursday. Earlier this week, the EU Commission will unveil a proposal to improve passengers' rights and Nato foreign affairs ministers will meet in Brussels.

Opinion

How should EU reform the humanitarian aid system?

The example of Ukraine illustrates that donors like the EU should be more ambitious about the localisation of aid. And this funding to local actors needs to be predictable, flexible, and longer than the typical one-year funding cycle.

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