Europe Development News |
European Union unveils measures to combat biopiracy
Members of the European Parliament adopted a resolution on Tuesday to combat ‘biopiracy’ by multinationals – the practice of patenting and marketing the use of traditional knowledge and genetic resources of indigenous peoples without authorization from source countries. According to the MEPs, many of the world’s poor depend directly on biodiversity and patents should be conditional upon disclosure of the origin of genetic resources and traditional knowledge used and evidence of consent from source countries.
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British politicians raise the stakes on tax secrecy
The British Prime Minister, David Cameron, has said he will make tax secrecy – both in developed and developing countries – a top priority during his Presidency of the G8 starting this month. Tax secrecy is said to cost the governments of EU member states 1 trillion euros each year, while illicit financial flows (including tax evasion) deprived developing countries of US$859 billion (644 billion euros) in 2010. Writing in the Huffington Post, Labour party politician Ed Balls criticized the coalition government for not doing enough, and said that his party will put an end to tax secrecy.
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Credit:Flickr users bisgovuk and Downing Street/ cc |
Hidden ownership of companies facilitates illicit financial flows
A new Eurodad report finds that the hidden ownership of companies and other legal structures facilitates tax evasion, corruption and other illicit activity, which according to Global Financial Integrity cost developing countries an estimated USD5.86 trillion (4.41 trillion euros) from 2000-2010. It argues that better information about who owns and controls these companies, and making sure tax crimes are clearly covered by anti-money laundering measures, are key to tackling this problem.
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Credit:Flickr user Images_of_money / cc |
France to support Tax Inspectors Without Borders
France’s Development Minister, Pascal Canfin, announced that his agency will provide financial support for a feasibility study to explore the Tax Inspectors Without Borders initiative launched by the OECD’s Task Force on Tax and Development in May 2012. The initiative aims to strengthen the capacity of developing countries with respect to the tax inspection of multinational companies in order to ensure that they receive the tax revenue that is essential to their development. France is the second country to do so, after Norway.
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Credit:Flickr user European Parliament / cc |
Progressive principles for British immigration policy?
The Institute for Public Policy Research proposes ten principles to make UK migration policy fair, democratic, progressive and effective. The challenge for progressive politicians, the report argues, is to engage the reality of people’s views on migration without giving in to the prevailing political and media negativity about immigration, and without opting out of important value judgments in favor of a purely managerial approach. The principles are meant to act as a framework for politicians to judge the success of migration policies from a progressive perspective.
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Credit:Flickr usersarflondondunc/ cc |
CGD in Europe Update
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Alex Cobham joins CGD Europe to work on illicit financial flows
Alex Cobham will be joining CGD in Europe as a Research Fellow to work on illicit financial flows. Alex will be joining in March from Save the Children, where he is Head of Research and runs the Uncounted blog.
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