Cum-ex scandal

26.11.2018

Question for written answer E-005955-18
to the Commission
Rule 130
Steeve Briois (ENF)

There is a new tax evasion affair in Europe, known as ‘cum-cum’. After the Offshore Leaks, SwissLeaks, the Panama Papers, and the Paradise Papers, journalists have uncovered a vast system in which banks all over Europe are being used to optimise tax on dividends. In this way, several Member States are every year being swindled out of revenue running into billions of euros, one example being France, which is losing about EUR 3 billion a year.

1. In the light of these revelations, what will the Commission do to close the loopholes in the law as it currently stands?

2. Why is it not restricting the free movement of capital, which is clearly driving tax optimisation and evasion?