The controversy surrounding the Panama Papers is bound to increase pressure at EU level for greater tax harmonisation, Central Bank of Malta governor Josef Bonnici believes.

Malta and other countries have, over the years, resisted such moves at an EU level to protect their tax-efficient systems, claiming this was an issue of sovereignty.

Asked whether the involvement of Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi – the only minister of an EU member state mentioned in the Panama Papers – risked compromising Malta’s leverage in Brussels, Prof. Bonnici insisted pressure had long been coming.

Speaking for the first time on the Panama Papers, he steered away from the domestic political controversy surrounding Dr Mizzi and the Prime Minister’s chief of staff Keith Schembri.

Prof. Bonnici said the Panama leaks would have an impact on offshore havens like Panama, the British Virgin Islands and Delaware in the US and would also accelerate moves in the EU to control situations where companies shopped around to get away with paying low taxes.

Listen to Prof. Bonnici’s comment in video above.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.