EU anti-money laundering/combating the financing of terrorism blacklisting

1.6.2021

Question for written answer  E-002888/2021
to the Commission
Rule 138
Clare Daly (The Left)

In 2019, Vanuatu was added to the EU’s blacklist of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes. It has been on the EU’s AML/CFL blacklist since 2016. This blacklisting has had serious consequences for Vanuatu’s development. It should be noted that of all the countries on both blacklists, not a single one has a predominantly white population.

Vanuatu is a former colony, and displays many of the typical socio-economic characteristics of a vulnerable, developing, post-colonial nation. Until December 2020, Vanuatu was classified by the UN as a least developed country (LDC).

It is incumbent on the international community to support Vanuatu in addressing its institutional deficiencies – especially given its graduation from LDC status – rather than punishing it for the legacy of its colonisation.

Neither the OECD nor the Tax Justice Network (the global tax watchdog) consider Vanuatu’s corporate tax structure to be inappropriate or harmful, and neither has placed Vanuatu on its list of non-cooperative jurisdictions or its tax haven index.

In the light of this discrepancy, as well as the damaging effects of blacklisting on Vanuatu’s development, and the fact that the EU’s AML/CFL blacklisting system appears to be discriminatory against poorer nations, will the Commission outline the basis for Vanuatu’s status, and commit to a review of its blacklisting system, in particular its discriminatory aspects?