Urpilainen made the remark in his address to the international seminar on ‘How can we enhance prevention of tax fraud and tax evasion’, in which EU Commissioner for Taxation Algirdas Šemeta, Lithuanian Finance Minister Rimantas Šadžius, Luxembourg Finance Minister Luc Frieden, Slovakian Finance Minister Peter Kažimír, and representatives of the OECD and the European Parliament also took part.
Urpilainen expressed the hope that the decision would be unanimous as a political will was necessary to prevent tax fraud and tax evasion as well as to work against tax havens.
She said even the countries that had earlier opposed the move changed their attitude.
‘For example, Luxembourg is ready to start the automatic exchange of information from early 2015,’ she mentioned.
The Finnish minister termed the EU’s lack of common criteria on the issue an obstacle to the initiative, saying that she supported the move for the EU adopting a common set of criteria.