Along with a European Commission tax official, a Member of the European Parliament, and the head of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development’s investment division, Financial Services Minister Wayne Panton participated on a panel that aired divergent views on global corporate taxation.

Organised by the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), the panel – titled Towards Fairer Corporate Taxation: Will the Measures Do the Job in Third Countries? – was held on Wednesday, 1 February in Brussels.

CEPS is a leading think tank and forum for debate on EU affairs. It does not take positions on issues, and is non-profit. The CEO of CEPS, Mr Karel Lannoo, moderated the panel.

In addition to Minister Panton, the panel comprised Ms Emer Traynor, deputy head of unit for DG TAXUD, European Commission, who has extensive experience with legal and tax issues on the EU level; Mr Paul Tang, Member of the European Parliament for the Labour Party representing the Netherlands, who deals mostly with financial policies and who is member of the Panama Papers Committee of Enquiry; and Mr Richard Bolwijn, head of the Business Facilitation, Investment and Enterprise Division for the UN’s Conference on Trade and Development.

Each panellist gave a presentation before taking questions from the 50 or so audience members. Topics included BEPS (base erosion and profit shifting); global investment; tax transparency; tax systems; and the EU scoreboard process.