Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister and myself differ on many issues, particularly on aggressive tax planning and loopholes that need to be continually closed and monitored in our own tax code. However, we do agree on the principle of sovereignty and of tax sovereignty in particular. Yesterday, the European Commissioner of the Economy, Paolo Gentiloni, wrote in the Financial Times:

we must stand ready to activate all existing policy levers to protect our single market. That includes exploring how to make full use of EU treaty provisions that let taxation proposals be adopted not by unanimity but by qualified majority, in agreement with the European Parliament.

Yesterday, the Commission also published a series of tax policies for what it calls fair and simple taxation and there has been an ongoing effort by a number of member states to undermine the idea of taxation by unanimity. This appears to be a serious attempt. I ask the Minister to respond to the Commissioner's comments on moving from unanimity to qualified majority voting, whatever about the policy proposals, in the Financial Times.

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