The choice of former Dutch finance minister Wopke Hoekstra to run EU tax policy has drawn attention from MEPs given previous links to tax havens, and the Netherlands’ status as a hub for corporate tax avoidance.
Influential MEPs from the left of the European Parliament are voicing concerns about the suitability of the Netherlands’ Wopke Hoekstra to serve as tax commissioner for the next five years.
In 2021, the Paradise Papers leak revealed that Hoekstra — who has served as EU climate commissioner since last October — had invested €26,500 in an East African safari company through the British Virgin Islands. He sold the shares a week before becoming minister in 2017, and later told the Dutch parliament he should have been more cautious.
Brussels has also been investigating allegedly favourable tax treatment the Netherlands gave to multinationals such as Starbucks, Ikea and Nike, which occurred before and during Hoekstra’s time as finance minister.
“It sends a bad message to citizens if someone who has invested in tax havens is now in charge of fighting tax evasion,” MEP Pasquale Tridico (Italy/The Left), chair of the parliament’s tax committee, told Euronews, adding that Hoekstra would not be credible in the role.
Tridico, who chairs the Parliament’s tax committee, has asked Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to change his portfolio, which also comprises climate and clean growth — and, if she doesn’t, he predicts a difficult future for the Dutchman.
“His ability to advocate for fair taxation is compromised by his appearance in the Pandora Papers as the owner of a letterbox company in a tax haven,” MEP Matthias Ecke (Germany/S&D), one of the four vice-chairs in the tax committee, told Euronews.
Tridico and Ecke are among MEPs likely to play a key role in the conduct of Hoekstra’s European Parliament hearing – when MEPs will grill commissioner candidates on their suitability and conflicts of interest.
In principle MEPs can vote to reject the whole Commission, which comprises one senior official from each of the 27 EU member states. In practice a forewarned von der Leyen would likely switch candidates or tweak portfolios to avoid that happening.
Opposition would likely particularly worry von der Leyen if it came from parties who previously supported her, including Ecke’s socialists, the greens or liberal Renew grouping.
Other candidates for commissioner roles – such as Italy’s Raffaele Fitto and Hungary’s Olivér Várhelyi – are also likely to be in the sights of MEPs given their right-wing affiliation and turbulent careers.
Ecke stressed that MEPs will closely scrutinise Hoekstra’s tax plans as well as his past record. “Only an ambitious agenda on fair taxation could dispel existing doubts about his suitability for the tax portfolio,” he added.
Hoekstra is, unsurprisingly, backed by his own European People’s Party (EPP), the centre-right grouping to which von der Leyen also belongs.
“The fact that Mr Hoekstra’s name appeared in one of the documents associated with the Pandora Papers is old news. I understand those allegations were extensively checked by Dutch authorities and no wrongdoing was discovered, so that is not a disqualifying factor,” Markus Ferber, the German MEP who is EPP spokesperson on economic matters, told Euronews.
“There is no free pass for anyone … but I have confidence that Mr Hoekstra can pass the test,” Ferber added.
Others appear optimistic about the possibilities of his brief, which unusually pairs tax with climate policy.
ADVERTISEMENTHoekstra “has a wonderful opportunity to link climate change with economic inequalities by putting forward taxation measures,” MEP Kira Marie Peter-Hansen (Denmark/Greens) said, pointing out that the richest 1% are responsible for more carbon emissions than the poorest 66%.
A mission letter sent to Hoekstra last week by von der Leyen indeed asks him to use tax to encourage clean tech.
He’ll also have to implement an existing international tax reform, “ensure Europe keeps the highest level of ambition” in tackling tax fraud and avoidance, and shepherd existing corporate tax reform plans through — though those laws tend to make slow progress as any single Member State can veto.
This article was amended on 25 September, 21:05 to add comments from Ferber.
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