FTT progress one of the few rays of light at Cannes G20 summit, CIDSE says
(Brussels, 4 November 2011) The Cannes G20 summit, dominated by the deepening Eurocrisis, has produced few concrete results and has largely ignored burning development questions. G20 action lags behind its rhetoric and will make little difference in the lives of poor people in their own countries and abroad, the international alliance of Catholic development agencies CIDSE says.
CIDSE Secretary General Bernd Nilles said: “President Sarkozy set the bar very high for this year’s G20, but didn’t even get close to touching it in Cannes. G20 leaders should have done much more domestically and collectively to contribute to financial and economic reform. Concerns about the Euro crisis are no excuse for G20 apathy. In fact, only thorough and robust reform will prevent similar crises in the future and pave the way for sustainable development.”
Many of the issues on the G20’s development agenda, like the role of small scale economic actors and transparency requirements for multinational companies operating abroad, did not make it into the final communiqué. Among the few rays of light of the G20 Summit are new countries coming out in favour of a Financial Transaction Tax (FTT).
“With Argentina, Brazil and South Africa joining France, Germany and Spain in support of an FTT, more than a quarter of G20 have now called for the tax. Like a snowball, support seems to be growing with every turn. We must keep it going to make this tax reality for a more stable financial system and to finance development and climate change challenges.”
Sarkozy said he hopes to move towards implementation of an FTT in early 2012 and that part of the revenues should go to development.
In Cannes, the G20 also signed a multilateral Convention to tackle tax evasion more effectively.
“The fact that G20 countries commit themselves to automatically exchange tax information is a positive development. However, without tax havens’ sign on, it is a bit like fishing with a net full of holes. Tax evasion can only be effectively tackled if you target the places that make such evasion possible,” Nilles said.
Annually, an estimated 800 billion Euro leaves developing countries illicitly, much of which ends up in tax havens. Each year, developing countries miss out on around 120 billion Euro in tax revenues because of it.
—
Contact:
Roeland Scholtalbers, CIDSE Media & Communication Officer, scholtalbers(at)cidse.org, +32(0)2 282 40 73, +32(0)477068384
CIDSE members in Cannes:
Pascale Palmer, CAFOD Senior Media Officer, ppalmer@cafod.org.uk, +44 7785950585 (English)
Nathalie Perramon CCFD-Terre Solidaire Press Officer, n.perramon@ccfd.asso.fr +33 6 82 85 28 82 (French)
Notes to the editors
- CIDSE is an international alliance of Catholic development agencies. Its members share a common strategy in their efforts to eradicate poverty and establish global justice.
- G20 Leaders Summit – Final Communiqué
- CIDSE recommendations to the G20 Summit – Cannes, 3-4 November 2011:
The G20 must adopt a just and equitable pathway out of today’s crises
Le G20 doit trouver une trajectoire de sortie des crises actuelles, juste et équitable
El G20 debe seguir un camino justo y equitativo para salir de la crisis actual - Aidons l’argent: CCFD campaign to ‘help money quit tax havens’ www.aidonslargent.org