Statement from EU Commissioner for Internal Market and Financial services, Michel Barnier and EU Commissioner for Development, Andris Piebalgs
During the African Union Summit with African Ministers of Finance last January in Addis Abeba, we committed to lead on the fight for more transparency of European extractive and forestry industries active in Africa. Today, by adopting legislative proposals for the transparency and accounting directives, requiring the disclosure of payments to governments on a country and project basis by listed and large non-listed companies with activities in these sectors, the Commission delivers on its commitments.
These new measures will improve sustainable business among multinationals active in the oil, gas, mining or logging sectors. It will play a groundbreaking role in the better management of natural resources and in the increase of domestic fiscal resources available to provide basic social services to the citizens. This new legislation will be a strong contribution to the Agenda for Change of European Development policy which aims at equipping Developing countries with the tools to foster sustainable and inclusive growth.
Today, the Commission establishes itself as an avant-garde in promoting transparency and goes well beyond the US Dodd-Frank act, putting the interest of developing countries at the forefront of this European domestic legislation. This will help to achieve a new step in the quality of our relations with Africa, based on mutual accountability and transparency.
We will now continue to taking the lead on the international agenda and promoting country-by-country reporting in global forum to ensure a coherent level playing field.
Well, clearly I am delighted. This is the next step on the way to full country-by-country reporting. A process that started when I wrote the first version of country-by-country reporting when my son Thomas (whose cartoon I posted earlier today) was 16 weeks old (it being delayed until he slept through the night) is coming closer to reality.
Thanks to all who have campaigned tirelessly on the way.
Now we have to get it through the Parliament.
And then make it global.
And apply it to all sectors.
For the benefits I describe here.
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This is from the EU though – aren’t they the bad guys? It could be that I’m getting confused on this point because there’s a lot of outfits loosely, far too loosely, referred to as the EU. I don’t know how to distinguish between them 🙁
BB
“Well, clearly I am delighted….”
As you well deserve to be; along with 99% of the world’s population.
I expect any such proposal/law to contain so many loopholes that a dreamliner full of venture capitalists and accountants will be flown through them at will.
Nothing changes.
Same trains, different colours.
That’s the trouble with allowing the crooks to design the legislation.
They actually designed themselves into the fabric of society, hence the PM lives in Downing Street (Downing introduced the National Debt) and Lombardy where bookkeeping is said to have developed is celebrated by the prominence of Lombard Street. If the Kray twins had been more successful we’d have the PM living on Kray Twins Road and perhaps perfectly socially acceptable nailings to the floor of poltiical dissenters would be carried out on Ron’n’Reggie Lane. Or wherever, you get the picture. If you don’t, I’ll send the boys round. The point is we associate names like Downing Street and Lombard Street with ultra-respectabilty whereas at least in Downing’s case he was by all accounts nothing of the sort. The banksters criminality has been so successful in previous generations we’re brought up to regard them as respectable now.
BB