The European Parliament Conference of Presidents, uniting the EP president and political group leaders, agreed on a mandate for an inquiry committee to look into the so-called Panama Papers, which revealed detailed information on off-shore companies and their ultimate beneficiaries.
The proposal by the Conference of Presidents will be voted by the EU Parliament as a whole on 8 June during the plenary session in Strasbourg.
The Committee is to consist of 65 Members who would be tasked to investigate alleged contraventions and maladministration in the application of Union law with respect to money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion by the Commission or Member States. After next week's vote, the Committee will have twelve months to draw up a report.
The full mandate text can be read here.
The mandate allows the inquiry committee, should it be set up, to make any recommendations that it deems necessary in this matter, including regarding the implementation by Member States of the Commission Recommendations of 6 December 2012 regarding measures intended to encourage third countries to apply minimum standards of good governance in tax matters and aggressive tax planning, as well as assess latest developments of the Commission's External strategy for effective taxation and assess the links between the EU and Member States’ legal framework and third countries tax systems (e.g. Double Taxation Agreements and Information Exchange Agreements, Free Trade Agreements) as well as efforts made to promote at international level (OECD, G20, FATF and UN) transparency of beneficial ownership information.
Opposition Leader Simon Busuttil warned through a tweet that no-portfolio Minister Konrad Mizzi, who has been heavily implicated in the Panama Papers scandal, "may well be hiding in China, but soon he will be in the dock in Brussels."