#PanamaPapers | Romania joins G5 initiative to exchange related information

Romania joined the G5 – France, Germany, Spain, Italy and Great Britain initiative on exchanging information about shareholding companies, trusts or other entities relevant for tax administrations and other agencies involved in the Panama folders, announced the Ministry of Finance.

“We were the first state to join the G5initiative, which is a useful tool for increasing transparency and combating tax evasion. We felt a coordination of all actions of the Member States’ tax administrations was necessary in order to analyze and use the information relating to transactions undertaken by individuals in the EU with the offshore jurisdictions. The mechanism of automatic exchange of information already existing at European level can be used for all data that may come from the Panama files analysis,” said Anca Dragu, Minister of Finance.

The topic was discussed Friday in Amsterdam during the ECOFIN meeting attended by Finance Minister Anca Dragu and Secretary of State for taxes, Gabriel Biris.

All other Member States have joined the declaration of the five countries within the ECOFIN meeting, which also touched on subjects such as the EU budget, strengthening the Bank Union, Economic Sustainability and VAT fraud.

In the context of discussions on the Stability and Growth Pact, Romania pointed out that the simplification of rules must provide a balance between stability, predictability and flexibility and take into account the needs of Member States for employment and growth.

“We support the initiative of Member States to harmonize the period with the Commission forecasts of Member States, namely from 2 years to 4 years,” the FinMin said. The initiative will be examined by the Commission at a technical level in the future.

The next ECOFIN meeting will take place on May 25 in Brussels.