Mr. Paul Tang:

We know it is a long-term fight and we do not mind. As a politician, one sometimes starts but does not know where one will end up. One hopes one's successors will take on what one has started. My fight started in the national parliament in 2007 when I was a member. Over the years, I have learned that transparency is crucial. What one has seen with LuxLeaks, the Paradise Papers and the Panama Papers is that they cannot see the light of day. If one's voters see this, they get outraged. The driving force has not been economic concerns such as a level playing field, it is the sense of unfairness people feel as in the case of Apple. I do not suppose it sits well with the Irish people. Transparency can be very important. It is necessary in the context of the big corporates as to where they make profits and where they pay tax - both of which are crucial - but it is also about the wealthy who can hide their wealth in all sorts of tax havens. That is why the blacklist of tax havens is important. It can be an effective instrument to lead to transparency. There is then the proposal which Alain and I are discussing here today in respect of the need for fair rules of the game. I refer to the corporate tax system, wealth taxes and so on. These are the things one needs.

To bring us to the global level, we need to start at European level. I cannot see any other way. Europe has the ability to set standards, not only for itself but also globally. That is why the blacklist of tax havens is important. If it is a farce, we are not able to set a standard. However, we are able to do it because we are an economic superpower. Why do we allow our multinationals to work with tax havens which do not abide by the rules? There is no reason. That could start within this economic superpower. If countries could work together within the OECD, it would be even better as that would include the USA, Japan and China later on. Then, one could build a global order that is fair. This is the long term but let us go there.