The Pandora Papers show once more that the fight against tax havens and letter box companies is only making limited progress", said Markus Ferber MEP, EPP Group Spokesman on Economic

Affairs, commenting on the revelation made by an international consortium of journalists on the so-called Pandora Papers.

"Even after years of scandals, the EU list of tax havens has no teeth. The plan of EU Finance Ministers to further water down the EU blacklist this week is precisely the wrong signal. If you want to fight tax havens effectively, being on the EU blacklist must come with tough sanctions. The Pandora Papers prove that the current approach of exchanging nicely-worded letters simply doesn’t cut it. We need to reset the EU blacklist and make sure that it contains all the usual suspects and come up with sanctions that are an effective deterrent. Otherwise, it will be business as usual for tax havens", said Ferber.

"The Pandora Papers show, once again, the need to strengthen the EU Tax Havens Blacklist. On the one hand, to guarantee that all jurisdictions that allow companies and individuals to launder money or to avoid taxation are listed. On the other hand, to underline that being listed must have concrete consequences. The European Parliament already asked for more commitment on the fight against tax havens and we stand with the principles of justice, transparency and cooperation when it comes to taxation. After the Paradise Papers, the Panama Papers and LuxLeaks, it’s time to move faster and close Pandora's fiscal box!" said Lídia Pereira MEP, EPP Group Spokeswoman in the Subcommittee on Tax Matters. Photo by Kevin Stroup, Wikimedia commons.