The revelation of documents from the Panama-based company Mossack Fonseca show how a rich people from around the world have hidden assets, evaded tax and laundered money, The European Socialists said in a statement.

Maltese Minister Konrad Mizzi is among the politicians mentioned in the report, which contains details on more than 214,000 offshore entities connected to people in more than 200 countries and territories.

The Labour Party is a member of the Party of European Socialists. 

Sergei Stanishev, PES President reacted to the announcement:

‘These papers reveal criminality of the rich on a previously unseen scale. The money that these people were hiding does not belong to them - it should have been redistributed for the benefit of all. But they chose to act with duplicity, and thinking that their money put them beyond reproach they neglected their responsibilities towards society. I commend the work of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) which has brought this corruption to light.

Today’s revelations reinforce the necessity for EU action on tax havens and addressing money laundering, something that we European socialists have long been calling for. Tax justice must be a priority, as it in turn will lead towards fairness and equality.

Tax is not optional, and where these activities were illegal they should be brought to justice. Where they were not illegal we must tighten laws to ensure that every pays what they owe. The European Commission’s Anti Tax Avoidance Package is a step in the right direction towards making that happen, but it is now more clear than ever, that we urgently need more action.’

S&D Group leader Gianni Pittella was also critical about the people mentioned in the IVIJ report.

"This new tax scandal shows that we need to act more efficiently against fraudsters and against those who facilitate them in hiding their money in tax havens. The fact that this is being used, not only by the criminal underworld, but by some political leaders confirms how widespread these immoral tax practices can go. It discredits the political system in the eyes of the citizens.

"We need to be more aggressive in the fight against tax fraud. Today, I wrote to President Juncker and asked him on behalf of the S&D Group to ensure that a large number of companies will be obliged to report publicly about their activities in every country in which they operate, be it inside or outside the EU, in order to strengthen the fight against aggressive tax planning by multinationals.

"The draft proposal currently under discussion on country-by-country reporting would fall short of the expectations and demands of Parliament and the citizens.

"Our political family considers it of utmost importance to come up with an ambitious proposal that effectively takes into account the concerns and expectations expressed by citizens and the civil society for over a year following the case of Luxleaks, which has shed light on the aggressive tax strategies put forward by big multinationals.

"We are concerned about the fact that multinationals would only have to disclose relevant information country-by-country just within Europe. As for their activities outside the EU, they would be obliged to provide only aggregated data.

"This solution would even favour profit shifting practices towards tax jurisdictions and tax heavens outside the European Union (in order to avoid the obligation to publicly report on tax payments), therefore decreasing European tax revenues.

"In order to effectively tackle tax avoidance and not to create discrepancies, we need public CBCR for all tax jurisdictions, within and outside the European Union.

"The fact that scope of the future legislation, which will focus on companies with an annual turnover over €750 million, is also a problem. Such a restricted scope would heavily undermine the effectiveness of the measure. The European Parliament has repeatedly asked instead for public CBCR to cover all large companies as defined in the Accounting Directive, which would account to around 20,000 large undertakings.

"I am afraid that if the European Commission were to propose public country-by-country reporting with these two elements, it would not at all be sufficient, and it would not be acceptable for the S&D Group."