Maltese MEPs vote against tax harmonisation report

Labour MEP Alfred Sant has pointed his finger at the increasing economic divergence between the north and south of Europe as the “essential problem” of the Eurozone, in a reaction to the ‘Report on the review of the economic governance framework stocking and challenges’ presented to the European Parliament by MEP Pervenche Berès, head of the French socialists’ delegation, which he voted against.

Sant said the report emphasized the coordination of economic policies of member states rather than a convergence of economic performance and outcomes.

“The report supports the partial deepening of eurozone structures without making this dependent on progress in efforts to achieve greater economic convergence. It proposes to harmonize tax structures when this will further serve to reduce the flexibility of those economies which in order to boost their competitiveness and performance, given their limited endowments, will need to differentiate their tax profiles, naturally under conditions of full transparency.”

Sant said the benchmarks being used to stabilize and run the system – which were fully endorsed in the Berès resolution – attacked only the symptoms but not the economic fundamentals that are producing this result.

“The discipline being followed on the basis of the set benchmarks might be contributing further to the divergences. Partial deepening of the existing arrangements could actually serve to further widen the divergences even within a steady state, stabilized context for the eurozone as a whole. For these reasons, I cannot therefore support the report,” Sant said.

The final vote on the resolution was 317 in favour, 254 against and 9 abstentions. Sant and the whole Maltese Delegation (S&D and EPP Malta) voted against the final vote of that resolution.