Panama returns to EU tax haven black list

Just two weeks after  Brexit The 27 member states of the European Union (EU) have added Panama and the British Caribbean territory of the Cayman Islands to their blacklist of tax havens which was originally created following the Panama Papers scandal in 2017.

Panama had been removed from the EU blacklist in 2018 after committing to reforms but returns because it did not meet certain criteria  

The 27 ambassadors of the countries of the European Union made the decision on Wednesday, February 12  to blacklist the two territories, as well as the archipelagos of Seychelles and Palau,. There are currently eight countries or jurisdictions on the EU blacklist: American Samoa, Fiji, Guam, Oman, Samoa, Trinidad and Tobago, the US Virgin Islands and Vanuatu.

The Cayman Islands are the first British overseas territory to join the EU blacklist. “The main reason is that they did not carry out the necessary reforms,” promised to the European Union before the end of 2019, one of the two sources said. In particular, the Cayman Islands is criticized for having legislation that facilitates the establishment of extraterritorial structures.

 EU finance ministers had first drawn up their blacklist in December 2017 after several scandals, such as the Panama Papers and LuxLeaks, to fight against tax evasion of multinationals and large fortunes.

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