EU's role in the relocation of multinationals

2.10.2015

Question for written answer E-013457-15
to the Commission
Rule 130
João Ferreira (GUE/NGL)

I have been contacted by a Portuguese citizen who worked for a North American multinational in Portugal for 18 years. In the second quarter of this year alone, the company concerned recorded profits of around USD 9.8 billion. Nevertheless, it decided for structural reasons to announce the collective dismissal of the entire financial department in Portugal. Various jobs in other departments had already been lost over the past years. This gradual relocation of production and other services to countries in eastern Europe, which are also EU Member States, has affected virtually all areas of the company in all the countries of southern Europe where this multinational has branches.

— What role does the European Union play in such ‘restructuring’ processes in large multinationals?

— In the Commission’s view, what justification can there be for directly and indirectly promoting competition between Member States and pushing through a general drop in wages and a fall in taxes on the profits made by multinationals?