Midlands North-West MEP Matt Carthy has called on MEPs and national parliamentarians from across the EU to work together to pressure the Commission and the Council to improve public transparency and accountability.
Carthy was addressing MEPs and representatives from the Commission and national parliaments at a conference on the European Semester in Brussels yesterday, Monday.
Addressing the representatives, the Sinn Féin MEP said: “All of us who were members of the European Parliament’s Panama Papers inquiry into corporate tax avoidance experienced the obstacles put up by the Commission and the Council when it came to MEPs having access to relevant documents, particularly from the Council’s Code of Conduct group on tax issues.
“Time and time again we were met with stalling, foot-dragging and redactions. There is a real sense of frustration among MEPs about this as these obstacles keep us from doing our job of representing our constituents effectively.
“It’s not only the PANA committee that has experienced this problem. MEPs working on dangerous EU trade deals such as CETA, TTIP & Mercosur, on environmental regulation – on practically all of our work as legislators – have experienced this secrecy in the institutions.”
