Offshore and onshore jurisdictions were, for a change, fairly evenly represented in Mr Monti's hall of shame, which included: Germany, Spain, France, Ireland, Luxemburg, the Netherlands, Finland, the United Kingdom, and Gibraltar.

He made little additional comment on any of the investigations other than that examining the exempt offshore companies' rules in Gibraltar, which he said merited inclusion in the list because of doubts as to whether existing provisions were compatible with EU rules. Gibraltar has protested against the EU's scrutiny of this issue in the past, fearing that its existence as an offshore financial centre could be threated if its state aid policies are deemed unfair, and has proposed sweeping tax changes, including the abolition of corporate income and payroll tax, to fend off the threat from the EU.

Mr Monti also noted that Belgium, Greece, Italy, and Sweden all had provisions in place which the EU deemed were unfair. He said that the latter member states were not under formal investigation as yet, but had been advised to end their incompatibility with EU rules.

The Competition Commissioner then said that the purpose of the investigations was not to challenge legitimate lower tax rates, but to eradicate 'harmful' tax regimes that distort competition, an opinion, no doubt, which the member countries under the spotlight would hotly dispute.