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Hungarian Finance Minister Varga: "The work is not yet complete."
Photo: ATTILA KISBENEDEK / AFP
Blockade from Budapest: A European solution for the implementation of the global minimum tax seemed within reach.
But now the agreement of the European finance ministers is in danger of failing due to resistance from Hungary.
Hungarian Finance Minister Mihaly Varga told his EU counterparts on Friday that his country could not support a reform at this stage - thus preventing an EU-level agreement.
The agreement was actually expected after Poland had previously given up its opposition to a minimum corporate tax of 15 percent.
Tax issues always require unanimity in the 27-nation European Union, so change is often tedious.
"Hungary cannot support the adoption of the Global Minimum Tax Directive at this stage," Varga told finance ministers in a public meeting.
'The work is not yet complete.
I think we have to keep trying to find a solution.«
French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire - who had made the tax deal a key objective of France's six-month EU presidency - made no secret of his disappointment.
He urged his counterparts to continue the work with a view to reaching an agreement at a later date.
In October 2021, almost 140 countries agreed on the details of a global tax reform.
This includes a minimum tax of 15 percent for international companies, including large US digital groups such as Apple and Alphabet.
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.
It was originally intended that the tax reform should take effect from the beginning of 2023.
This is now more likely to be expected in late 2023 or early 2024.
mic/Reuters
