In an effort to get government aid, Lufthansa has published a list of subsidiaries in tax havens. Whereupon MEP Sven Giegold starts an online petition.
- Lufthansa is badly hit by the Corona crisis and is negotiating a rescue package with the German state .
- It is about nine billion euros in government aid for the corporate giant.
- Lufthansa is now causing criticism with a list of subsidiaries in tax havens .
Frankfurt am Main - The rescue package that Lufthansa is negotiating with the German government over the Corona crisis * is no less than nine billion euros . Negotiated tough. Then it also emerged that the group has subsidiaries based in tax havens . A list that the group published about the subsidiaries in question should now create transparency . But for the Greens it raises more questions. Transparent is something else for the party.
Business activities in tax havens always have a bland aftertaste. For Lufthansa all the more, given the gigantic rescue operation with public funds due to the Corona crisis, which paralyzes entire industries. Even within the group there are reservations about state aid. It did little to help that Lufthansa announced in a press release after its sensitive subsidiaries became known that, of course, national and international legal and tax regulations were observed in all countries in which the Lufthansa Group operates .
Lufthansa and the tax havens: subsidiaries in Panama and the Cayman Islands
"There must be clear conditions for public commitment," said SPD leader Norbert Walter-Borjans when the existence of subsidiaries became known. At the same time, it was necessary to clarify why Lufthansa had subsidiaries in tax havens .
One reasons subsidiaries provide "where this is necessary for operational reasons," had, the Group announced at the end of April, the Süddeutsche Zeitung. According to the company, the list includes all subsidiaries that are based in those countries that are on the EU list of non-cooperative countries and areas for tax purposes : among other things, a holding company and a catering company in Panama , also on Guam .
On the Cayman Islands and the Virgin Islands , LSG Group, Lufthansa's catering subsidiary, is 49 percent owned by the Inflite Holdings Cayman holding, which has several holdings in the Caribbean.
Lufthansa list of tax havens: the Greens lack transparency
For the Greens , the list presented is obviously a bad joke: it does not lead to real tax transparency , said the party's spokeswoman for finance policy in the Bundestag, Lisa Paus, spiegel.de and demanded: Before state aid , companies should disclose in which country they are what profit they make and how much tax they pay. International groups would already have to submit such country-specific reports to the tax authorities on a regular basis, so that there would be no additional effort, she argued.
Even Sven Giegold, spokesman for the German Greens in the European Parliament, criticized the publications of Lufthansa did not provide a complete picture of the tax practices of the company. "Having a subsidiary in a tax haven is not sufficiently meaningful," he said. "The official EU list of tax havens is not nearly complete, the most important tax havens for large companies are missing."
Tax havens: The Greens demand improvements in criteria
The party calls for further details to the shops before the consolidated state aid given in the billions. To this end, the Greens have published a catalog of criteria in the European Parliament to prevent government aid from being paid out to tax-avoiding companies .
Effective conditions should be defined, said Giegold. “The state should demand tax transparency per business country from a company. This country-by-country reporting is long overdue for the fight against tax dumping , he writes - and shares a petition on Twitter:
The federal government still refuses to make # Corona state aid a lever against # tax dumping. So please sign my petition: If you want to receive tax money, as a company you must not trample tax justice! https://t.co/Idmlzc93mn pic.twitter.com/BMipvXCOoa
- Sven Giegold (@sven_giegold) May 15, 2020Video: Lufthansa in the Corona crisis conducts tough negotiations on state aid
Despite all the quarrels and problems: Lufthansa wants to offer more flights again during the holiday season in Corona times *.
* Merkur.de is part of the Germany-wide Ippen-Digital editors network.
