AA13CR30ADD1
AS (2013) CR 30
Addendum 1
2013 ORDINARY SESSION
________________________
(Fourth part)
REPORT
Thirtieth sitting
Tuesday 1 October 2013 at 10 a.m.
ADDENDUM 1
The activities of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 2012-13
The following texts were submitted for inclusion in the official report by members who were present in the Chamber but were prevented by lack of time from delivering them.
Ms MELNYCHUK (Ukraine) - We have been especially delighted to hear the address of the OECD Secretary General, Mr Angel Gurría, and the reports of our colleagues on the output of the past period of work and the plans for further activity in the framework of co-operation with the Organisation. It is generally known that the OECD is indeed a club of champions, and it is a great honour to be among its friends. Ukraine has been fruitfully co-operating with the OECD for years, and this co-operation is bringing tangible results.
The OECD offers today the greatest opportunities for exchanging best practices and knowledge and for the development of programmes and projects contributing to the economic and social advancement not only of the member countries but also of its partners. There are no specific challenges for individual countries in the global world, and by investing to address them locally, we are contributing to the stability of peace and prosperity of continents.
I am convinced that citizens of any country wish only prosperity and well-being for their homeland. This is why the activities of the OECD, which sees its main mission in developing economic and social benefits throughout the world, are priceless for the global community. The co-operation with the OECD is an excellent opportunity for Ukraine to acquire the best standards in the context of its European aspirations and active efforts focused on the European integration processes.
You know that we have less than two months left before the Vilnius Summit where Ukraine hopes to sign the association agreement with the EU. This is why the willingness of Ukraine to actively develop co-operation with the OECD with the prospect of becoming a full member of this honourable club is so obvious. This is evidenced by the statement of Prime Minister Mykola Azarov in July this year, on the plan of our country to join the Organisation. Earlier, the Ukrainian Government had adopted an action plan to deepen Ukraine’s co-operation with the OECD for 2013-2016. We have a nice offer for the global community: sound achievements in rocket and aircraft engineering, a powerful agricultural sector, a strong potential in metallurgy, energy and engineering. Co-operation in these fields is actively developing already today. Realising the importance of the legal and legislative protection of foreign investment, Ukraine is working thoroughly to create the most comfortable conditions for investors.
The Ukrainian Parliament, which I am honoured to represent, is also making strong efforts focused on convergence with European economic and social standards, resulting in a number of reform laws adopted recently by the Verkhovna Rada, aimed at European integration.
Obviously, it is not easy to meet the high criteria imposed by the OECD, but it is important that we are interested in the effective involvement and the fastest advancement to become ultimately a full member in the Organisation. I am convinced that our already established fruitful contacts and active interaction are only a starting point for further and greater co-operation and partnership.
It is thanks to international and inter-governmental engagements on formal and informal levels that the brand new planetary commonwealth is being built, and we are proud of the fact that Ukraine is part of this process.
Mr GARĐARSON (Iceland) - I would like to thank Mr Van der Maelen for his excellent report. His view is that the Assembly should urge the OECD to step up the fight against tax havens. In particular, Mr Van der Maelen thinks that the Assembly should support the OECD´s effort to press internationally for the implementation of arrangements for the automatic exchange of information for tax purposes, in order to combat illegal tax evasion and illegal transfer of money to tax havens around the world.
I fully agree with Mr Van der Maelen. The automatic exchange of information is an effective way to combat tax evasion, not least because tax treaties between countries do not work as well as they should. In the report, Mr Van der Maelen mentions more than 800 bilateral tax information agreements worldwide. That is quite a lot, but still we are having problems. In most cases tax authorities cannot ask for unspecified tax information from another country. They have to specify which individual they are looking for, and what information they want. Sometimes it takes years to get the requested information and that can delay investigation. This is one of the reasons why the tax treaties do not work as they should. It is simply time consuming and difficult to filter out the relevant information.
We must also remember that tax laws differ greatly between individual countries in Europe. That makes things more difficult when it comes to taxation. It is relatively easy for many companies to avoid paying taxes by registering in many countries. There is no question that this gives multinational companies a big advantage over national companies and distorts the economy.
Everybody should pay their fair share to society, and it cannot and should not be tolerated that many of the best known companies in the world are exploiting all possible loopholes to minimise their tax bills.
Ms ANTTILA (Finland) - I would like to thank the rapporteur for his very good report, which describes very well the problems we are facing all over the continent. The report focuses on the challenges to citizens’ trust in democratic institutions posed by ineffective policy responses and by evidence of fiscal injustice in the course of the on-going economic and employment crises.
Ordinary people are not guilty of causing these problems. Despite this, they suffer from the crisis in many negative ways like higher taxes, high unemployment, worse public services and so on.
Peoples' trust in democracy is crucially important. It is the basis of democratic society. Only 40% of people trust in governments. Governments have not been capable of resolving the serious economic problems of unemployment and growing debt. What should we do in order to resolve this? |
I hope the OECD will strengthen relations between both member and non-member countries, which play an important role in the world economy. It is very important that Russia, which is negotiating its membership of the OECD, could be a member very soon.
The employment crisis is one of the biggest challenges facing governments. The Green Growth Strategy emphasises the importance of innovation. How do we integrate green growth in national and multilateral policies? The most serious problem is the unemployment of young people. The OECD's skills strategy tries to help young people to have an education and training for the skills needed in the future.
The Secretary General has said that we should learn from the crisis. Our politicians should take more responsibility away from market forces, which are influencing peoples' lives too much and in many ways today. The banking sector has made a lot of mistakes. We ordinary people must pay more taxes and take responsibility for banks. This is not right. People cannot accept that. This is one reason for the collapse of peoples' trust in governments. Better decisions are needed. We must try to learn from the crisis.
Mr DAVIES (United Kingdom) - The OECD has the power and infrastructure to evaluate and influence economic outcomes which in turn shape the prospects for human rights, democracy and the rule of law for which the Council for Europe exists. The impact of economic austerity on these values, as we have seen in Greece, can be far reaching.
So, the balance between austerity and growth to reduce deficits in the aftermath of the 2008 banking crisis can and should be evaluated and influenced by the OECD.
The European Union and US fiscal stimulus lead by Gordon Brown and Barack Obama avoided a depression and in the UK by 2010 we were back on track with fragile growth. But this was frozen out by a serious dose of Conservative austerity that made the poorest pay for the bankers’ greed as the rich get richer.
Prices have consistently outstripped wages so living standards have fallen relentlessly for over three years. While there are signs of creeping consumer confidence supporting belated growth, poverty, both in and out of work, has grown dramatically. To rub salt into the wounds, bank bonuses have jumped to take advantage of tax cuts for the richest and the public watch with horror as transnational companies avoid tax from multi-billion dollar profits.
Governments may talk the talk on tax transparency – like the G20’s discussions – but as they do transnational companies walk the walk and jump out of the tax net. As the G20 proclaimed a new beginning for tax collection, Vodafone received £53 billion income from the biggest share transaction this century without paying a penny or cent in corporation tax. The OECD is in a prime position to take the lead to help ensure that global corporate giants do not profiteer and feed the fat wallets of the richest in all our countries, without paying their fair share of tax.
So I ask the Secretary General of the OECD Mr Gurría, what is the OECD doing to identify the obstacles to transparency and accountability? And what is the action plan and timetable to ensure that global companies do not play one government off against another in a race to the bottom in paying the least corporation tax? And finally, what role do consumers have in forcing fair tax from the corporate giants?
The OECD is not a neutral observer in the struggle to engineer international co-operation, to root out corporate tax avoidance. Instead it must rise to the challenge of becoming an active force in delivering economic justice and a better world.