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Polish flag in front of those of the EU and Germany: "There is no reason to wait"
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Patrick Pleul/ dpa
According to France, the global tax reform will probably not come into force until the end of 2023 or early 2024 - a year later than originally planned.
Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said at a meeting of EU finance ministers in Brussels on Tuesday.
It is crucial that the reform succeeds at all.
It is intended to transfer the existing specifications into the digital age.
Almost 140 countries agreed on the details of a global tax reform last year.
This includes a minimum tax of 15 percent for international companies.
In addition, emerging markets should get more revenue from the largest corporations in the world.
Tax havens are to be dried up and large digital corporations in particular are to be held more accountable.
However, the implementation of the minimum tax in the EU is faltering because Poland still has concerns.
"All open questions have been answered," said Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner in Brussels.
He hopes that the concerns will be dispelled very soon.
There is also no reason to wait before implementing the minimum tax.
There is no legal connection between the two pillars of the planned reform.
In Brussels and Berlin it was recently suspected that Poland wanted to use the blockade to blackmail the release of money from the Corona aid fund.
The EU Commission has so far delayed the payment due to concerns about the independence of the Polish courts.
The previous details were negotiated under the umbrella of the OECD.
The Secretary General of the Industrialized Nations Organization, Mathias Cormann, said at the World Economic Forum in Davos that he was cautiously optimistic that the EU would give the green light for the minimum tax.
However, the implementation may not succeed before 2024.
Le Maire hopes that EU countries will agree in June.
Tax issues always require unanimity in the 27-nation European Union, so change is often tedious.
Sol/Reuters