Mr. Paolo Gentiloni:

I thank Deputy Harkin for her questions. I believe these proposals were made four or five years ago. I have not been in office for as long as that. The Deputy knows from her experience that the proposals did not succeed in being approved. It does happen in the EU systems that proposals tabled by the Commission are not approved. Some member states that were sceptical about these proposals asked the Commission to wait or to prioritise a global solution. They asked why we should make a European decision and not have a global solution. Here we have a global solution. I know perfectly well after the meetings today that Ireland is in the process but at present does not agree with its results. Having said this, the global framework is our priority. For this priority to work we also put on hold our proposal for a digital levy. This was very different from the previous proposals of the Commission. It was put on hold to make a contribution to a global solution. This potential global framework is the best outcome we can work towards. I am impressed by the fact that in the frequent contacts I have with the business community and big corporations at global level they are very much interested in having a global and stable framework. This is not because they are happy to pay higher level of taxes but because they are unhappy to have double or triple taxation and difference methods in different countries. We did have previous proposals that were unable to fly among the community of member states but we are now working very much on this global framework. We hope this will help the EU to strengthen its unity.