04 September 2013

The EU at the G20 Summit: Stepping up global efforts to restore global confidence

Improving confidence in the global economy, making decisive progress on the way to sustainable and inclusive global growth, countering protectionism and stepping up the fight against tax avoidance and evasion worldwide: these should be amongst the main results of this G20 summit. This is the call that European Commission President José Manuel Barroso and European Council President Herman Van Rompuy will make to fellow G20 leaders when they travel to Saint Petersburg on 5-6 September to represent the European Union at the summit.

President Barroso said before leaving for Saint Petersburg: "The global economic situation makes one thing clear: all G20 leaders need to step up their efforts for recovery, for growth and jobs, for open trade and for fairer taxation. There is no room for complacency and much remains to be done by all G20 members to restore economic confidence globally. I will make clear that the EU has delivered on the commitments made in Los Cabos and that we will continue to deploy our comprehensive policy mix, which is starting to yield results."

President Van Rompuy said: "The European Union enters this summit in a much better economic shape than a year ago in Los Cabos. Our strategy for combating the crisis is bearing fruits but we will relentlessly continue our efforts as risks and challenges remain. The economic crisis has further stressed the need for all to pay their fair share of taxes. In St Petersburg, the European Union will seek to advance in the fight against tax evasion and ensure the widest possible backing for automatic sharing of tax information."

The global paradigm change in the fight against tax avoidance and evasion is set to be taken further by G20 leaders. The EU, with its considerable expertise and experience – for example, in creating an EU-wide system for the automatic exchange of information, or the fight against aggressive tax planning – will push for the automatic exchange of information to become the global standard. It will, notably, support any efforts that help to ensure its swift implementation. The EU will also strongly support the OECD's action plan to fight corporate tax avoidance worldwide, which this summit is expected to endorse.

Press release

In their joint letter to the EU's 28 Heads of State and Government on 23 July 2013, Presidents Barroso and Van Rompuy set out their views on the key issues for the G20 summit. 

© European Commission