Name: Subcommittee on Tax Matters Ordinary meeting EU Tax Symposium 2026
Uploaded: 2026-03-17T10:25:00+00:00

00:01 - 02:09

Redner 1

Welcome back to all of you. Welcome back to the people at home. I hope you enjoyed some coffee and some tea as well. Please take your seats for the next panel of today. Rest assured, those of you who couldn't finish their coffee, usually caffeine keeps you awake, but you will not need it because it's going to be a very interesting panel, so you will not need the caffeine to stay awake during this panel session.

I would like to call to the stage the moderator of this next panel, Francesco Saraceno, deputy director de la Observatoire Francais de Conjunctur Economy, as well as the three panelists. Thank you for joining us on stage and taking your seats. While they are doing so, I will launch another round of votes, because we want to know your opinion as well. Could we have the voting question? The vote is on should the commission assess the effects of pillar two, sorry.

That went a bit too fast. Should the commission assess the effects of pillar two on competitiveness in the coming years? So I repeat the question, should the commission assess the effects of pillar two on competitiveness in the coming years? And the vote is open, so you can cast your vote. There again, insert your hand and by pushing one of the three buttons, I will see the screens that light up.

I see a lot of green screens from where I'm standing already, and we will close it. The vote is closed, and we will see if the results show the same thing I was seeing clearly. 180 people say, yes. The commission should assess the effects of pillar two on competitiveness in the coming years. So a lot for you to debate on.

I will not take up much more of your time because we've already shortened it a little bit, so please feel free to enter into the topic right away. The floor is yours.

02:09 - 05:18

Redner 2

Thank you very much. Welcome to everybody. After break, we have a very short and tight schedule. So let me get directly to the point. We discussed a zombie, a walking dead, or maybe an already dead pillar this morning, pillar one.

The second roundtable is on the evolution of pillar two, recent evolution. That pillar is certainly not dead. It's working. And one of the things we will have to assess during this panel is whether it's working in the right direction or not. So as you know, the second pillar of the BEPS agreement was concerning the minimum global minimum taxation.

The big news about the second pillar, that was actually implemented after 2021 in many countries, and the big news is, of course, the withdrawal of the Trump administration with an executive order signed on the very first day of the presidency in last January. And that, of course, led to a round of negotiation within the G7, so a subgroup of the OECD that eventually came on an agreement, the side-by-side agreement, that basically creates a safe harbor for American corporations that do not have to comply with the requirements of a pillar at all. So the discussion today will be about this side-by-side agreement, what it is exactly, what is the assessment our panelists have on that, and also on whether or what we should do going forward regarding this problem. We saw even in remarks, actually, of the OECD secretary general this morning that this is a very controversial topic because the assessment of the side by side agreement is actually not very much consensual. And I'm very happy and honored, and I repeat, I want to really go directly to the discussion to have a discussion on that with a very distinguished panel.

So the first is Raluca and Akem. And I have asked you to help me with the pronunciation of your names, of course. Ralluca heads KPMG's EU Tax Center. That is the hub that helps clients understand how the EU and international tax developments can impact the European operation. And she has a focus on the anti-abuse measures and tax transparency initiative.

Thank you very much for being part of the panel. The second panelist is Zorka Milin. She's the policy director of the US-based Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency, or FACT coalition, which brings together civil society, labor unions, and small businesses on international tax and transparency issues. And Zorka is also a fellow at the Roosevelt Institute and previously practiced tax law with two major global law firms. And last but of course not least, Tim Power, he's the director of business and international tax at the UK Finance Ministry.