ONLY THE COUNTRIES that do not cooperate with the European Union’s attempt for clarity on their tax policy will remain on a blacklist, expected to be sorted out by year-end.
Aldo Dell’Ariccia, Head of Division of the Mexico, Central America and Caribbean with the European External Action Service, reiterated that for the time being the old 2015 list of Caribbean countries with black marks against their names was no longer valid while the regional governments and the European Commission were in talks.
He conceded that the talks were taking place because the EU had realised that the way the list first came about was not “very friendly” and that small countries without raw materials had to select the ways for their economic development.
“ . . .We hope that at the end of the day, at the end of the year when this process will be completed there will be no need to put any country on a list knowing that the list will be only of those countries that refused to cooperate with the European Union . . . and refused to provide information which is necessary in order to have complete transparency and clarity on the processes which are developing in the country in terms of taxation, banking,” he told a group of Caribbean journalists yesterday in Brussels. (AC)
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