madam president i would like to thank you for your comments and the views you expressed during the debate
i am glad to see that the european parliament and the commission share views on actions to be undertaken to better fight against tax fraud and tax evasion in the european union and i am pleased with the general support for the two proposals
i would like to thank you again for the priority given to the savings taxation file and for your support for the commission efforts to promote good governance in the tax area
achieving rapid progress in the discussions on the amending proposal is also one of the priorities of the czech presidency
due to the international climate the financial and economic crisis it is also a priority for most member states
i am convinced that once member states agree on ways of closing existing loopholes in the savings taxation directive it is likely that the council will ask the commission to update in a similar way the agreements with the five non-eu countries and the ten other jurisdictions participating in the savings taxation mechanism
it is premature to speculate today on how they will react to our approach
the eu first needs to reach a unanimous agreement internally
however bearing in mind progress achieved in the g twenty talks on meeting the oecd exchange of information standards i am optimistic in this area as well
as regards mr visser's report i have indicated before that the commission cannot accept parliament's amendments but we have taken note of the recommendations contained in the report
in particular the need for better coordination between the different member states the necessary improvement of the quality of the information that is exchanged the need to allow other member states automated access to certain data contained in member states databases and the requirement to harmonise registration and deregistration procedures are ideas that are strongly supported by the commission
this is also the reason why the commission will come forward by the end of may with a more substantive proposal for a recast of the regulation on administrative cooperation where these proposals will be incorporated
in conclusion and as i have already mentioned on past occasions it is clear that there exists no one single and global solution for eliminating tax fraud and tax evasion
the proposals we have discussed today are two major steps forward within the framework of the global anti-tax fraud strategy at eu level
