Luxembourg Prime Minister Says It's Britain's Fault
Luxembourg's Prime Minister
Jean-Claude Juncker said last week he saw little chance of
the EU reaching agreement on tax harmonisation at the upcoming
EU summit in Helsinki on 10 December and laid the blame for the
current impasse with Britain. Mr Juncker made the statement after
his meeting with Finnish premier Paavo Lipponen, who was visiting
Luxembourg as part of a pre-summit tour of EU member countries. Mr Juncker said the majority
of the blame for the failure to find a compromise solution on
tax harmonisation lay with the British government because it fears
the proposed measures will result in job losses and erode the
competitiveness of its financial sector. Although the Helsinki meeting
will be the last chance for the tax package under Finland's presidency,
Mr Juncker said that negotiations would continue next year under
the Portuguese presidency if no compromise can be agreed. (Once upon a time this used
to be called 'hiding behind Mrs Thatcher's skirts'.) .
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