St. Vincent calls for united CARICOM approach to EU demands

St Vincent and the Grenadines is calling for a Caribbean Community (CARICOM) response to the move by the European Union (EU) regarding the establishment of international businesses in the region.

"It appears as though some have surrendered or are inclined to surrender. Others have compromised and accommodated, but without any or much resistance. It is not too late for coordinated, creative resistance on a broad range of issues where our interest and those of the European Union do not coincide," Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves said.

Last week, Grenada, which is among several countries blacklisted by the European Union in 2017 as having harmful tax legislation based on EU claims that their citizens use them to avoid paying taxes, repealed several laws for establishing international business there.

"The International Companies Act in its present construct gives incentives to foreign entities that are not domiciled in Grenada and, Mr Speaker, it has been deemed to be unfair and lacks transparency by the EU intergovernmental code of conduct group on taxation," said Grenada's Legal Affairs Minister, Kindra Maturine-Stewart, as she piloted a motion to repeal the legislation.

She said that in 2017, Grenada was among a group of 90 countries that the EU selected to be screened against tax transparency, harmful tax practices and base erosion profit shifting.

Maturine-Stewart said the new EU guidelines prohibit new measures that will provide for international companies to benefit, but those firms were not domiciled in the state.

Apart from the International Companies Act, the government is also moving to repeal the International Insurance Act, the International Trusts Bill and the Offshore Banking Act. Grenadian legislators have termed the EU move as "imperialism (that) is alive and well".

St Kitts and Nevis and Barbados are reported to be crafting a path with some creative resistance, Gonsalves said.

He said Barbados is reshaping its tax landscape to keep the business of the international financing services because that is lucrative for them.

Gonsalves said it may well be that CARICOM did not address the matter in as coordinated a manner it should have because it is not of great moment to Jamaica, Haiti, Trinidad or Guyana.

Opposition Leader Dr Godwin Friday said that while Gonsalves had spoken about creative resistance, the extant battle with the EU ought to be taken up at the CARICOM level.

- CMC