Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union will have talks with Panamanian authorities on Wednesday in the wake of the offshore accounts scandal centering on people and multinationals stashing funds and avoid paying taxes, something which costs the EU billions a year.
The meeting comes at the request of the Panama's ambassador but is welcomed by the 28-nation EU.
EU spokeswoman Vanessa Mock said that the EU was "very keen to talk to Panama as it is one of the countries that featured on our preliminary list last year of non-compliant tax jurisdictions," where illicit tax practices still could take place.
The EU estimates it loses up to 70 billion euros ($80 billion) in revenue every year because of tax avoidance.
Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
