Alain Lamassoure, a French member of the European People's Party, will lead the European Parliament's Special Committee on Tax Rulings, which was set up after the European Commission launched state aid investigations into tax rulings for multinational companies such as Apple, Fiat Finance & Trade and Starbucks, in Ireland, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.
Germany's Bernd Lucke (European Conservatives and Reformists), Portugal's Marisa Matias (European United Left - Nordic Green Left) and Frenchwoman Eva Joly (Greens/European Free Alliance) will be the vice chairs of the 45-member committee, which is due to report by July 12, six months from when it was set up.
"We have an important mission. We need results and we need them fast", said Lamassoure after his election on February 26. According to a statement from the European Parliament, he urged committee members "to seize the momentum of press revelations", also known as 'Luxleaks'."The task ahead of us is not related either to our political orientations or to the countries we represent. This is about transparency and justice. These are our shared concern and we have to work on them in the best possible spirit", he added
The committee is mandated to look into EU member states' tax rulings as far back as January 1 1991, but will also review how the European Commission treats their existing state aid arrangements and how transparent they are about their tax rulings. "The committee will also seek to establish any negative effects that aggressive tax planning has had on public finances and will deliver recommendations for the future," the statement added.
