EU publishes new blacklist of tax havens

BRUSSELS, March 12 (KUNA) -- European Union Economic and Finance Ministers Tuesday adopted a revised EU list of tax havens.
In addition to the 5 jurisdictions that were already listed, the revised EU list of tax havens now also includes the following 10 jurisdictions: Aruba, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Dominica, Fiji, Marshall Islands, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Vanuatu, the ministers, who are meeting in Brussels today, said in a statement.
Those jurisdictions did not implement the commitments they had made to the EU by the agreed deadline of 2018, it noted.
"Since it was first adopted in late 2017, the list has proven its worth in pushing forward in a cooperative manner the EU's agenda of improving global tax practices, fighting tax avoidance and improving good governance and transparency," said Eugen Teodorovici, minister for finance of Romania, whose country holds the current EU Presidency, in a press statement.
Meanwhile, the aid organisation Oxfam criticised the new blacklist saying five of the world's worst tax havens were dropped from the EU list of tax havens published today.
They include Panama, Hong Kong, Isle of Man, Guernsey and Jersey.
Chiara Putaturo, Oxfam's EU Policy Advisor on Tax and Inequalities, said," EU governments have let five of the world's worst tax havens off the hook and put the credibility of the whole blacklisting process at risk." "The EU must also put its own house in order by clamping down on the European tax havens of Cyprus, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta and the Netherlands," said the Oxfam advisor. (end) nk.mt