BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union states agreed on Friday to work toward setting up a joint blacklist of tax havens by the end of the summer in the wake of the Panama Papers leaks.
Following the leaks, EU tax commissioner Pierre Moscovici had urged EU states to find a compromise and set up a joint list with common sanctions against tax havens to combat tax evasion..
Currently the 28 EU states have broadly different national lists of so-called non-cooperative jurisdictions on tax matters and are free to decide whether to impose restrictive measures.
"There is a unanimous support to set up a common EU black list of tax havens by the end of the summer," Moscovici told reporters at the end of a meeting of EU finance ministers in Amsterdam.
EU finance ministers backed this plan, Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem told a news conference after an informal ministerial meeting.
But negotiations are expected to be complex and the number of jurisdictions to be included in the list remains unclear.
Plans to have a single EU list are not new but have been blocked in the past by national conflicting interests.
Ministers also agreed to automatically exchange information on the beneficial owners of companies, another move that may increase transparency and reduce tax evasion.
The European Commission will also present in the coming months new legislative proposals to crack down on banks and tax advisers who help their clients to hide money offshore.
Rules to increase transparency on beneficial owners of companies and trusts are also in the making.