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Poland is set to lift its veto on the EU’s plans to implement a global corporate tax rate of 15 percent for multinational companies, three officials told POLITICO Wednesday.
Warsaw’s support should give the EU the unanimous support it needs to pass that tax initiative, which G20 leaders rubberstamped last fall together alongside a levy for the world’s 100 biggest companies.
Polish Finance Minister Magdalena Rzeczkowska is expected to sign off on the deal Friday when she and her peers meet for this month’s Ecofin meeting in Luxembourg. Although there are some concerns that Hungary could upset the celebrations.
Poland’s change of heart comes after its government settled a rule-of-law dispute with the European Commission that had left the country cut off from its share of the EU’s €800 billion recovery fund.
Rzeczkowska has dismissed accusations that she was holding the tax rate hostage over the dispute, saying that Poland instead wanted legal assurances that the global levy would follow the minimum tax rate.
It’s unclear whether EU countries have provided more assurances beyond a declaration of intent to implement both initiatives, which Poland had previously deemed insufficient. Hungary has privately raised similar concerns in recent days, the officials said, putting Brussels on edge.