盧森堡承諾改變金融保密文化

Luxembourg has pledged to overhaul its culture of financial secrecy, as it fought back against the latest accusations that it helped leading multinationals avoid billions of dollars of tax.

盧森堡承諾徹底改變該國金融保密的文化，最近被指幫助大型跨國公司規避鉅額稅款的該國，正在極力反擊這種說法。

The claims could prove highly embarrassing to Jean-Claude Juncker, the new president of the European Commission, who was prime minister when the corporate tax deals were allegedly struck.

上述說法可能讓歐盟委員會(European Commission)新任主席讓-克洛德•容克(Jean-Claude Juncker)相當難堪，那些公司稅協議被指達成的時間與容克擔任盧森堡首相的時間重合。

Officials were responding to a report that more than 340 multinationals, including such names as Pepsi, Procter & Gamble and JPMorgan, made secret deals with the Grand Duchy between 2002 and 2010 that saved them billions in taxes. The commission is already investigating whether rulings agreed by the Luxembourg tax authority with Fiat Finance and Trade, the financial arm of the car company, and Amazon, the internet retailer, amounted to state aid.

官員們是在迴應一份報道，該報道稱，逾340家跨國公司，包括百事可樂(Pepsi)、寶潔(Procter & Gamble)和摩根大通(JPMorgan)等知名公司，都曾在2002年至2010年之間與盧森堡大公國達成祕密協議，從而省下了鉅額稅款。對於盧森堡稅務局與車企菲亞特(Fiat)旗下的菲亞特金融及貿易公司(Fiat Finance and Trade)以及互聯網零售商亞馬遜(Amazon)達成的裁決是否相當於國家援助，歐盟委員會已展開調查。

Pierre Gramegna, Luxembourg’s finance minister, refused to blame Mr Juncker for past practices but insisted his own government was now forging a new culture of financial transparency.

盧森堡財長皮埃爾•格拉梅尼亞(Pierre Gramegna)拒絕將過去的做法歸罪於容克，但堅稱現政府正在打造以金融透明度爲特點的新文化。

But Gianni Pittella, the Italian lawmaker who heads the Socialist group in parliament, said:. “He must show whose side he is on. Is he on the side of European citizens or corporate tax dodgers?”

歐洲議會(European Parliament)的社會民主黨團體領導人、意大利議員詹尼•皮泰拉(Gianni Pittella)表示：“他必須表明立場。他是站在歐洲公民一邊，還是站在避稅的企業一邊？”

On Wednesday, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists published documents it said showed how companies had funnelled hundreds of billions of dollars through Luxembourg to save billions in taxes. The documents are mainly Advance Tax Agreements, so-called comfort letters that map out how companies will be taxed.

國際調查記者聯盟(ICIJ)週三發佈文件，稱這些文件表明企業是如何通過盧森堡週轉數千億美元資金、從而省下數十億美元稅款的。這些文件主要是預先稅務協議(Advance Tax Agreements)，即指明將如何對企業徵稅的所謂告慰函(comfort letter)。

Asked if Mr Juncker was responsible for the tax breaks, Mr Gramegna said: “It is not a politician or a government that does these rulings, it is an administrative procedure.” He said that Luxembourg was now ending banking secrecy, which had been one of the “cornerstones” of its national policy. Last month, Luxembourg dropped its long resistance to EU transparency rules and said it would allow European depositors’ data to be sent to home countries.

在被問及容克對這些稅收優惠是否負有責任時，格拉梅尼亞表示：“這些決定不是由一位官員或一個政府決定的，而是由一套行政流程決定的。”他表示盧森堡如今即將廢除銀行業的保密原則，該原則此前是盧森堡國家政策的“基石”之一。上月，盧森堡放棄了對歐盟透明化規則的長期抵制，表示將允許歐洲儲戶的數據被髮回儲戶的母國。