EPP Group wants strong parliamentary investigation into Panama Papers. "Country-by-country reporting alone does not fix the problem."

The EPP Group has welcomed today's law proposal by the European Commission to have multi-national companies report on their taxes, profits and employees on a country-by-country basis.

"We want companies to pay taxes where the value is created. The new law will help to make visible whether this principle is enforced or not", Burkard Balz MEP, the EPP Group's Spokesman on tax matters, said today in Strasbourg.

But Balz warned against expecting too much from the so-called country-by-country reporting: "This alone does not fix the problem. Also, we must not jeopardise European companies' competitiveness by asking them to disclose information that American and Chinese companies do not have to disclose."

The Panama Papers revealed organised, large-scale parasitism.

Burkhard Balz MEP

The EPP Group is pushing for a strong parliamentary investigation into the Panama Papers. "This is organised, large-scale parasitism. It is intolerable that both law firms and entire countries use living at the expense of other states as a business model. We want Mossack Fonseca and the Panama government to answer our questions in Parliament", Balz stressed.