Ireland to resist Juncker’s plan to prevent vetos on tax reform

To address the gridlock on European tax reform due to the current practice of unanimous decision-making, Jean-Claude Juncker urged EU states start making policy changes by ‘qualified majority’. Yet, Irish Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe said the country will resist any plans that would remove its veto over tax policy. According to the minister, ‘the need for unanimity…is a core issue of how the European Union manages issues like this’, and the proposed tax reforms ‘would be a very very big economic challenge for Ireland’. Donohoe argued that the OECD should continue to lead efforts in digital taxation and tax evasion.