Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have four specific points, the first of which concerns the CCCTB. Since the proposals were published, the officials in the Irish Department of Finance and the Revenue Commissioners have been attending meetings of the working party on taxation, which is the forum for discussion on this issue. Can the Commissioner state whether the Irish officials have been opposing, supportive or neutral in their discussions and participation at the meetings?

My second point is on tax fraud and evasion. Are there countries in the Union that the Commissioner regards as tax havens? If so, what are they? Are there certain aspects of any country's tax policy that would make it a tax haven?

What is the position on tax exiles, be they citizens of Ireland or other member states, who move between countries such that they are not regarded as resident in any for the purpose of taxation? They may spend four months in Ireland, four months in another country and four months in yet another such that they do not spend the majority of their time in any one country.

How is the Commission dealing with ensuring these non-resident individuals pay their tax?

What protections are in place for those countries like Ireland which are opting out of the financial transaction tax, FTT? Harmful tax competition has been referred to and that a code of conduct group on business taxation is examining this. One of my concerns with the EU is that it examines taxation measures from an internal perspective. It is more concerned that Italy is not introducing tax measures that could disadvantage France or Ireland disadvantaging Spain. However, we are losing the world picture and not recognising that we need to attract global industry into the EU. It is so determined to ensure that no one member state has an advantage over any other that Europe ends up the net loser with jobs and investment ending up outside the EU.