The European Economic and Social Committee approved a report which calls for tougher controls and greater coordination to fight against tax and financial havens. In particular, the EESC demands further action to eradicate opaque tax jurisdictions and to compel Member States to combat crimes that originate in many of these jurisdictions.

Members of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) endorsed an own-initiative opinion on tax and financial havens which requests tougher controls and greater coordination among Member States to fight against this malpractice. According to the EESC opinion, it is necessary to restrict the right to free establishment in the case of completely spurious businesses set up exclusively for tax purposes. In September 2011, also the European Parliament asked for an EU-wide action to end corruption.

The EESC demands further action to eradicate opaque tax jurisdictions in order to put an end to this abusive practice, and to compel Member States to combat crimes that originate in many of these jurisdictions. The current legislation leads to an abuse of the principle of "residence" by means of ownership arrangements and fictitious residency. Holding companies not actively engaged in business allow the owners to avoid paying taxes in their country of domicile. The EESC also proposes to remove all obstacles to the automatic exchange of bank information so that the authors of transactions and owners of bank accounts can be easily identified.

Illicit capital flows (that rise by more than 10% annually) have disastrous implications for the on-going sovereign debt crises, says the opinion. Furthermore, Member States that are obliged to introduce drastic budget cuts do not receive billions of euros, due to fiscal evasion.