G8 endorses timid progress

Published on 19 June 2013 at 14:33

"G8: progress in the fight against tax evasion sums up French business daily Les Echos, at the close of the June 17-18 summit, which saw world leaders reach a very broad consensus on the issue.

For Les Echos

The wager made by Prime Minister David Cameron, who presided the the summit [...] has almost been won. [Although] concrete reforms are lacking.

In their final communique, the paper notes that the G8 countries made a number of commitments, such as "implementing automatic data exchange between fiscal authorities," and "publishing action plans to determine who is profiting from shell companies". Nonetheless, on this latter point, the newspaper remarks that some countries – Germany, the United States and Canada – "are not ready to go as far as the United Kingdom, which had suggested a public register".

Receive the best of European journalism straight to your inbox every Thursday

Another issue on which the leaders remained vague is the abusive use of tax shelters by multinationals such as Apple or Starbucks.

Le Echos concludes —

The few disappointments of the G8 demonstrate that the pressure must not be relieved.

Tags

Was this article useful? If so we are delighted!

It is freely available because we believe that the right to free and independent information is essential for democracy. But this right is not guaranteed forever, and independence comes at a cost. We need your support in order to continue publishing independent, multilingual news for all Europeans.

Discover our subscription offers and their exclusive benefits and become a member of our community now!

Are you a news organisation, a business, an association or a foundation? Check out our bespoke editorial and translation services.

Support independent European journalism

European democracy needs independent media. Join our community!

On the same topic