Euractiv has reported that the European Parliament adopted yesterday an overhaul of EU anti-money laundering rules which includes the introduction of publicly accessible registers for companies and trust owners. This has long been a goal of the tax justice movement. The European Parliament backed up the proposal with 643 favourable votes, while 30 MEPs voted against, and 12 abstained.
There is, of course, now the problem of getting the Commission to deliver on this issue and in getting member states to comply, but wins do have to be noted.
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And of course, ex-City stockbroker Nigel Farage voted against. After all, why would want transparency?
(link to voting records page is here. The result to which you refer is on pages 32-33 of the Results of roll-call votes PDF document linked from there)
And of course, ex-City stockbroker Nigel Farage voted against. After all, why would he want transparency?
(link to voting records page is here. The result to which you refer is on pages 32-33 of the Results of roll-call votes PDF document linked from there)
thank you James I found it eventually-not the clearest website.
Mr Farage was company with the non-affiliated, the two BNP members, Jean Marie Le Pen, some of the United Left/Nordic Greens and the Earl of Dartmouth. Strange company for a man who talks about democracy.
I note the European Greens played a positive and major part in this vote. I think it will influence my vote in May.
No, not terribly easy to get to – but it’s there.
Interesting to see that (all?) five Maltese MEPs voted against. I wonder why?
And as you’d expect the only members of a mainstream party who failed to back it were four abstaining Conservatives…
Malta is a tax haven
No surprise re Tories
Thanks James for providing the link to the EP voting record. I have a particular interest in following the conduct of MEPs from Cyprus which tends to be poorly reported here on the island.
I note the two AKEL MEPs, attached to the United Left/Nordic Greens bloc voted against as did the DISY MEP Papadopoulou.
Eleni Theocharous and Ioannis Kasoulidis of DISY (and part of the EPP bloc)as well as Sofokles Sofokleous of EDEK (S&D bloc) did not vote against but I am unable to determine whether they voted in favour. Any idea where that information might be?
Do we have any idea why the United Left/Nordic Greens bloc largely voted against? On their website this is recorded;
‘Debating draft anti-money laundering rules this morning in the European Parliament, GUE/NGL MEPs welcomed new proposals to combat financial crime and tax evasion.
“Nobody doubts that proceeds from financial activities are a major problem,” Cypriot MEP Kyriacos Triantaphyllides told the house. “Controlling information that a company transfers is crucial when it comes to detection and location of criminal activities. Cooperation with third countries is necessary but can’t come at the expense of data protection so data transfers should only go ahead when it comes to countries that have proper standards on this.”‘
If I was cynic I would be tempted to interpret this last comment as ensuring that information exchange between Cyprus and Russia, Ukraine and other third countries should not proceed and a reason for voting against the proposal.