What Gilles spoke about.

15

Mar

2023

FR Speech

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Need for immediate reform of the internal rules of the Commission to ensure transparency and accountability in light of alleged conflicts of interests (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the image of our institutions is damaged by a succession of irregularities and malfunctions. This is not about politicising or personalising these cases. We have not done so here in the European Parliament and I do not intend to do so for the European Commission. My concern is that we learn the lessons and the consequences for the future, to res…

14

Feb

2023

FR Speech

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Establishment of an independent EU Ethics Body (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, the trust placed in us by European citizens has been seriously undermined by the recent revelations of corruption in our Parliament. So, of course, no procedure can prevent the corrupt few from doing so. But we must recognize that our system has shown its limitations: it is based only on a self-regulatory approach that is not sufficient. Our institutions need an indepen…

18

Jan

2023

FR Speech

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Protection of the EU’s financial interests - combating fraud - annual report 2021 (debate)

Madam President, the risks to the financial interests of the European Union today are immense, commensurate with the colossal sums involved in national recovery plans. Our Union has been strongly committed in recent years to consolidating its anti-fraud architecture with the establishment of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO). The report we will be voting on tomorrow clearly illustrate…

16

Jan

2023

FR Speech

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Rules to prevent the misuse of shell entities for tax purposes (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the rapporteur – Lídia Pereira – in 2021, it was said, shed light on tax avoidance practices within our European Union itself, thanks to shell companies that have been created, which are being created, with the sole aim of avoiding taxation. A strong European response was expected, and before we invite the whole world to exemplarity we obviously ha…

14

Dec

2022

FR Speech

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Defending the European Union against the abuse of national vetoes (debate)

Mr President, in the founding pact of the European Union, the Member States freely decided in which areas competences were transferred, which competences they shared and which competences they retained. As the applicable texts stand, the use of the veto in certain areas is therefore legitimate, for the preservation of vital interests, but not as a currency of exchange or pretext. As a last example…

5

Jul

2022

FR Speech

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Objection pursuant to Rule 111(3): Amending the Taxonomy Climate Delegated Act and the Taxonomy Disclosures Delegated Act (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, energy issues are obviously very controversial in this Chamber. But I believe that one point brings us together, if not unanimously, at least very broadly: it is the obligation to respect the Paris Agreements and the objectives of the Green Deal that we have set ourselves. For this, we need to organise a transition. Ultimately, I hope, like all of …

23

Jun

2022

FR Speech

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National vetoes to undermine the global tax deal (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, Minister, we have reached a historic agreement between 137 countries within the framework of the OECD to ensure that no company in the world is taxed at less than 15%. This is a historic step forward. Among these 137 states, there were the 27 Member States, unanimous, and we obviously have to apply this agreement in the European Union with ambition. Unfortunately, as yo…

4

Apr

2022

FR Speech

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Urgent need to adopt the minimum tax directive (debate)

Madam President, Commissioner, this international reform of corporate taxation is historic – it has been said. This 15% minimum tax will allow us to fight more effectively against tax havens and unfair competition. And it is important to underline that this reform was unanimously supported by the 27 Member States, which was still unexpected a few months ago. Europe must now take or maintain leader…

10

Nov

2021

FR Answer

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Disclosure of income tax information by certain undertakings and branches (debate)

Thank you for your very constructive and moderate question. No one dictates my position and I must say that I have reiterated the concern of companies not to see publicly available data that their global competitors could have exploited. And this concern will naturally disappear, as soon as everyone is on an equal footing and all companies in the world make data on their activities available to ev…

10

Nov

2021

FR Speech

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Disclosure of income tax information by certain undertakings and branches (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, it has been a long road indeed – as has been pointed out before me – it has taken several years to achieve this result. After years of deadlock, especially in the Council, the adoption of this directive is a major victory for transparency and tax justice. This is a first step and we must welcome it. The adoption of this text is a signal that Europe is taking action to c…

20

Oct

2021

FR Speech

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Global Tax Agreements to be endorsed at the G20 Summit in Rome, 30th/31st of October (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, this is a historic agreement that we are talking about tonight. The word is overused, very often used in this Chamber, but it is the first time 136 countries have agreed to update international tax rules that are almost a century old and have become totally unsuitable for the digital age. With two key principles, this was said, namely that everyone pays tax where they h…

6

Oct

2021

FR Speech

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Reforming the EU policy on harmful tax practices (including the reform of the Code of Conduct Group) (debate)

Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, the report we are voting on today comes at the right time, while current events remind us that much remains to be done against tax evasion. This report allows us to affirm the European Parliament’s support for stronger action against unfair tax competition between Member States. Indeed, before requiring the exemplarity of third States, we must have…

15

Sep

2021

FR Speech

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Implementation of EU requirements for exchange of tax information (debate)

Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, this report allows us to measure progress, of course, but also the scope for improvement in tax cooperation between Member States, which has now become, we can say, a major weapon in the fight against tax fraud and money laundering. Obviously, before we demand the exemplarity of third countries, which we do, we must try to embody it ourselves. Since 2011, wit…