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Europe is shooting itself in the foot with the premature introduction of the global tax agreement

2022. 06. 23.

In today’s plenary session of the European Parliament, MEPs debated national vetoes criticising the global tax agreement. Fidesz MEP Enikő Győri recalled in her speech that “if a Member State exercises its right under the treaty to stop a process that harms Europe, acting in a sovereign way is not anti-European. Instead, they should ask themselves why it is doing so.” MEP Tamás Deutsch, Head of the Fidesz delegation to the European Parliament, commented that the way in which today’s debate was put on the agenda and its underlying idea, even leaving aside the differences of opinion on the content of the global minimum tax, was scandalous because it showed that the European Parliament wanted to take away the right of Member States to represent their national interests. “With today’s debate, the European Parliament is launching an attack on the right of Member States to represent their own sovereign national interests and opinions, as guaranteed by the EU treaties. In doing so, it is once again contradicting the principles of the rule of law while holding Member States accountable for abiding by them.”

MEP Enikő Győri underlined: “Let us not be enemies of ourselves. The world has drastically changed since the OECD agreement. We are at war. We should focus on remedying the damage instead of imposing new burdens. This is a two-pillar package; and with the first one, that is, taxing the tech giants, we are making no progress, while with the global minimum tax, we are making it harder for manufacturing companies. Since it was a package, we should do the two things at the same time.”

She pointed out that “what we want to introduce has not been implemented by our international partners in America or Asia, and it would put European companies at a competitive disadvantage. Moreover, the OECD has not yet developed the implementing rules, and our companies do not have time to get prepared until 1 January”.

Commenting on Commissioner Gentiloni’s proposals, Enikő Győri said: “These are just ‘cosmetic’ suggestions. We must continue to work and strive for unity for Europe’s competitiveness.”

Following the meeting, the MEP added: “The resolution of the Hungarian Parliament is clear, the proposed EU legislation cannot be adopted in its current form. Instead of blaming one Member State, we need to find a solution that serves the interests of our citizens and businesses.”

Commenting on the debate, HoD Tamás Deutsch said that both the way the debate was put on the agenda and the underlying idea behind it were scandalous, as it showed that the European Parliament wanted to take away the right of Member States to represent their own national interests. “It is outrageous that the European Parliament wants to challenge the sovereign ability of a Member State to represent its national position. In doing so, the EP is launching a serious attack not only on the sovereign right of Member States to represent their interests, but also on the EU treaties that guarantee it. This means that the European Parliament is, for the umpteenth time, going against the principles of the rule of law. It does so by constantly holding Member States to account for their compliance with the rule of law.”