Germany's Schaeuble presses EU to step up tax evasion fight
BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany and four other European Union Countries are in talks to link up their registers listing the actual owners of companies, Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said on Wednesday, pressing for the EU to forge ahead with efforts to tackle tax evasion.
Schaeuble told Germany's lower house of parliament that he was talking with finance ministers from Britain, France, Italy, and Spain to fuse their national registers into one network.
Schaeuble wants the EU to step up efforts to combat tax havens after a huge leak of documents from the Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca this month showed how offshore firms are used to stash the wealth of the rich and powerful.
"We are busy in Europe, the five biggest - Italy, France, Spain, Britain and us - now to agree. We are doing that first of all between us five," he said during a parliamentary debate on the fallout from the 'Panama Papers' leak.
"But I need the legal basis for an exchange of data, otherwise we can't do this. So I ask for this to be done quickly," Schaeuble added.
He also intends to present at a meeting of the International Monetary Fund in Washington this week plans to combat tax havens including creating an international network of registers listing company owners.
(Writing by Paul Carrel; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
