A group of Roman Catholic bishops have issued the following hard hitting statement:
Multinational companies deprive developing countries of nearly 125 billion Euros each year. We, church leaders from all over the world, call on the EU to stop this now.
As the crises hit our economies and societies harder every day and impact particularly on the poorest, citizens are asking for new rules to put more morality into the financial system. The greed of a few threatens the very survival of the most vulnerable populations. To end this, new rules are urgently needed that ensure that the wealth produced, particularly from the exploitation of natural resources, is not monopolized for the sole benefit of a minority. These resources should benefit all equitably and in particular the local people who are directly impacted by the activities of production and/or extraction.
The implementation of the EITI (Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative) was a first step towards a just and sustainable management of natural resources. This multi-stakeholder initiative is voluntary for countries and is designed to ensure transparency in the payments of the extractive industry to governments. It has shown in participating countries the benefits of transparency to enhance democratic governance and to fight corruption. The churches, which have participated actively in the implementation of this initiative, are partly responsible for this healthy development.
After ten years of experimentation, it is now time to go further by establishing ambitious and binding rules to promote transparency of all stakeholders in the extractive sector and in all countries. The adoption in the United States of the Dodd-Frank Act in July 2010 marked a new milestone. All extractive companies listed on U.S. stock market will have to publish their payments to host countries. Burmese or Congolese citizens should be able to hold their governments accountable on the use of funds coming from extractive activities.
It is now up to the European Union to improve the international standard of transparency. The Commission has proposed a rule for financial transparency, on both a country by country and project by project basis. If implemented effectively, these measures will offer more opportunities to citizens to monitor whether extractive industries are making a fair contribution to the economy. To achieve this goal, the European Union must ensure the threshold for reporting payments by extractive companies is set at a level that is meaningful for developing countries. Exemptions should not be allowed to create loopholes.
This measure is a first step towards greater transparency of companies' financial accounts on a country by country basis which would provide a full picture of their subsidiaries, the number of people in their employment, their annual turnover and profits. This would be a decisive incentive to stop tax dodging by multinational companies which deprives developing countries of nearly 125 billion Euros each year. It will also encourage Government officials to ensure that natural resource deals agreed are in the best interest of their citizens.
Concerned to see revenue from businesses contributing to a sustainable and fair development of the domestic economies of the countries where they operate, we look forward to the introduction of robust regulation requiring full transparency of companies operating in all sectors of the economy on a country-by-country basis which we know will constitute a further step towards regulation of the economy for the benefit of the poor, supporting the fight against corruption and a fairer redistribution of wealth.
Signatories
Mgr. Jorge Eduardo Lozano, Bishop of Gualeguaychú, Argentina
Mgr. Fernando MarÃa Bargalló, Bishop of Merlo — Moreno, Argentina
Mgr. Ludwig Schwarz, Bishop of Linz, Austria
Mgr. Alois Jousten, Bishop of Liège, Belgium
Mgr. Sébastien Mongo Behon, Secretary General of the National Episcopal Conference of
Cameroon
Mgr. Antoine Ntalou, Archbishop of Garoua, Cameroon
Mgr. Joachim Kouraley Tarounga, Bishop of Moundou, Chad
Mgr. Gaspar Quintana, Bishop of Copiapó, Chile
Mgr. José Figueroa Gómez, Bishop of Granada, Colombia
Mgr. Joseph Banga, Bishop of Buta, Democratic Republic of Congo
Mgr. Yves Boivineau, Bishop of Annecy, France
Mgr. Jean-Luc Brunin, Bishop of Le Havre, France
Mgr. Werner Thissen, Archbishop of Hamburg, Germany
Mgr. Pedro Barreto Jimeno, Archbishop of Huancayo, Peru
Mgr. Louis Portella Mbuyu, Bishop of Kinkala, Republic of Congo
Mgr. John Arnold, Auxiliary Bishop of Westminster, United Kingdom
Mgr. William Kenney, Auxiliary Bishop of Birmingham, United Kingdom
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I’m sorry but these are the catholic clerics lecturing on transparency, morality, the monopolisation of wealth for the sole benefit of a minority, enhancing democratic governance and fighting corruption? Disgusting hypocrisy on a grand scale and I’d expect nothing less from them. I don’t know why you give them air time Richard.
Because in amongst the errors that bishops have undoubtedly made there is also some serious social teaching, and not all are tarred with the same brush
‘Errors’! ‘Serious social teachings’!
What like the systematic covering up of child rape on an industrial scale for probably centuries if not millennia? Or teaching Africans that condoms cause AIDS? Or excommunicating nuns who perform abortions to save the mother’s life? Or rampant homophobia and sexism? Or, more pertinent to this website, running the Vatican bank with its well documented shady practices? Palaces dripping in gold, vast untouchable, untaxed wealth. Need I go on?
Sorry Richard the Catholic Church’s primary reason for being is self-aggrandisement and power. Unelected, unaccountable power. If these individuals had any moral fibre they’d have left that rotten organisation long ago and then they might be worth listening to. But they haven’t, they’re in on the scam, so they’re not.
I admit I could not be a catholic
Any more than I could probably now be a member of the CoE
But for all its faults – and they’re rampant – I still think the RC’s have a relevant voice in many communities
I agree with the sentiments shared in many of these comments. Aside from covering up dubious moral behaviour, I cannot say the R.C.C. has been particularly ‘generous’. My in-laws have been involved with helping a Catholic run orphanage in the Philippines and we have it on good word that the flow of money flows one way – from the Philippines to the Vatican. I don’t know about the C of E. but the highest echelons of the Catholic Church live a life of luxury. I’m a Roman Catholic myself, but I have to say it’s pathetic when the Catholic Church lectures on others being ‘charitable’ or paying their taxes, when in many countries they pay no tax themselves. In my opinions religions and religious organisations should pay tax.
It’s so true that over the centuries the R.C. Church has often behaved appallingly and all too often still does. I agree. And it should pay tax like the rest of us. I am a Roman Catholic but no longer go to church. One of the many reasons for this is that I and some of my friends and colleagues have been ignored, ridiculed and rubbished by the Catholic Church in Jersey for campaigning for tax justice. The Church just doesn’t want to know. However, having said that, the Church like all institutions is made up of people, thousands of whom are heavily involved all over the world working for tax justice and all that that implies. I welcome this move by the Catholic Bishops to work with us and hope that parishes such as ours follow this initiative which surely reflects the message of the founder of Christianity — to bring good news to the poor?
Pat
Many thanks
Richard