Sant interviewed: Politics of harmonisation, tax havens and telenovelas

He called for Konrad Mizzi's resignation over his Panama company, but Labour MEP Alfred Sant tells Kurt Sansone Malta's bigger problem is the perception in Brussels, pre-dating Panama Papers, that it is a tax haven. The EU executive has long advocated corporate tax harmonisation across the bloc. Has Panama Papers strengthened those voices in Brussels? Yes, but they didn't need much strengthening. There has always been this drive to harmonise financial systems within the EU, especially now with the banking union project. Furthermore, there was the Lux Leaks scandal last year, which involved [advantageous tax schemes for] multinational corporations, that gave rise to a huge wave of concern within the EU that something had to be done about it. The European Commission came up with the idea of analysing the advantageous tax rules from the perspective of State aid, and it is working on this in earnest. The European Parliament also pushed initiatives to close tax loopholes and create a common corporate tax reporting system that would be the precursor for harmonising tax levels. You have argued, like many others, that a move towards tax harmonisation is a threat to Malta's financial...

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