EU summit tackles tax fraud and energy: "special interest groups and political allies oppose"

Money laundering - Tax Fraud

European Union leaders want to make tax and energy policy the focus of  today's special summit. But the current debate in the European Parliament shows how thorny both topics are. 

The EU estimates that Europe loses an income of a trillion euros ($1.3 trillion) every year through tax fraud. MEPs often describe in imaginative detail what they could do with all that money, and complain that ordinary people are often forced to make up for rich people's lost contributions through higher taxes and duties.

Udo Bullmann, German Social Democrat MEP and finance policy specialist, summed up the feelings of many European parliamentarians of various countries and political affiliations: "It's no longer acceptable that the European states are financed exclusively by people who either can't run away or are too decent to do so."

The agenda for Wednesday's (22.05.2013) special European Union summit has already been through several versions. At first it was meant to be purely about energy, then only tax fraud, now it's meant to deal with both issues, and all within one afternoon. Both topics have certainly been the source of plenty of incendiary material in the European Parliament, even though the parliament is meant to be left out of tax issues, which is the business of member states.

EU tax commissioner Algirdas Semeta welcomes the fact that tax fraud is finally going to be discussed by government leaders, despite the fact that finance ministers recently agreed to work together more closely to tackle tax fraud and evasion. Semeta couldn't conceal the fact that he'd "hoped for more ambition, binding agreements, and shorter deadlines."

Read more: EU summit to tackle tax fraud and energy | Europe | DW.DE | 22.05.2013