On Friday, the French Minister of Economy and Finance, Bruno Le Maire, regretted the opposition of Hungary, which prevented an agreement to agree to a directive Taxes on 15% of the profits of multinational corporationswhich translates into group legislation the agreement reached by members of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) for a minimum corporate income tax rate.
Hungary, which has not yet expressed its opposition to the new legislation, expressed its political opposition to the proposal a few days before the meeting of the Council of Economics and Finance in Luxembourg – where member states adopted a resolution to implement the plan to restore Poland. and flexibility, which has already received the green light from the European Commission, despite protests from the European Parliament and doubts raised by civil society about the scope of the judicial system reform designed by the Warsaw government.
There was no opposition to the approval of Poland’s €36 billion PRR, but as Bruno Le Maire emphasized, after a “long discussion” about the merits of the program designed in Warsaw, some member states expressed “reservations” and abstained. vote. The motion was approved by a majority.
As revealed by the European Commissioner for the Economy, Paolo Gentiloni, “Some Member States have asked the Commission to carry out a rigorous and serious assessment of the implementation of milestones related to the reform of the judicial system,” without which the state will not even be able to proceed with your first exchange request.
Prior to approval of the PRR by the European Commission, It was Poland that was blocking agreement on the minimum corporate tax rate of 15%. in the Council of the European Union. Apparently, Hungary decided to repeat the Polish veto strategy, as a means of putting pressure on the executive branch of society to overcome the impasse preventing approval of its own recovery plan.
“Unfortunately, once the Polish blockade is overcome, there is an unexpected blockade by Hungary, and another, in a very important file for Europe, since eliminating tax competition at the business level is absolutely necessary,” Finance Minister Fernando lamented. We owe at the end of the meeting. He stressed that “it is necessary to eliminate financial dumping within the European Union.”
Bruno Le Maire – who did not hide his dissatisfaction with the maneuvers of the two countries, which used this file as a “scapegoat” and Preventing the French presidency of the European Union from achieving a major political victory So far – he told reporters that “the Hungarian veto has nothing to do with the so-called second pillar of the OECD agreement, nor with the minimum rate of corporate income tax, which they agreed at the last council meeting.”
“All obstacles and technical difficulties have been overcome,” the French official confirmed, adding that the European Commission’s assessment indicates “a beneficial effect on all eurozone countries and all EU member states” after the directive change. With its entry into force, 27 countries will levy taxes at a minimum of 15% on all business groups located in the European Union with a turnover of or more than 750 million euros annually.
