Luxembourg Angered By French Report

by Ulrika Lomas, Tax-News.com, Brussels

30 January 2002

The Luxembourg Government has responded angrily to a French report, compiled by left-wing parliamentarian Arnaud Montebourg, which was released recently and condemned the country as a haven for tax evaders. Luxembourg was also criticised for blocking EU information exchange initiatives.

The French parliamentary committee, chaired by Vincent Peillon, dubbed the tiny offshore jurisdiction as: 'a veritable banking paradise in the European Union, [and] an obstacle in the fight against laundering.' M. Peillon admitted that Luxembourg had made some significant changes in response to international pressure recently, but argued that: 'they must go further...and faster.'

Commenting immediately after the release of the report, Luc Frieden, the Minister for Justice in Luxembourg was dismissive of the conclusions reached, observing that the report was obviously intended for a domestic audience in France.

Speaking on RTL television last week, he elaborated on this, claiming that the parliamentary committee - which has also recently launched attacks on Monaco, Gibraltar, London, and Switzerland - is clearly ill-informed about the nature of the EU financial centres.

'I would like to see a report on France, but unfortunately they haven't gotten round to producing that one,' he quipped on Tuesday.

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