Six Central and Eastern European countries are aiming for closer cooperation in combating tax fraud, the participating ministers announced at a press conference following a meeting of the Visegrád Four, Germany and Austria held in Prague where Hungary was represented by Minister for National Economy Mihály Varga.

Mihály Varga said that ministers focused on the issue of reverse-charge VAT and tax evasion, but they also discussed sanctions against Russia and economic conditions in their respective countries. “I think it is crucial for the Visegrád Four to continue to be capable of addressing European or regional challenges in close cooperation. The current meeting is a good example for that,” he stated.

Speaking about reverse-charge VAT and tax evasion, he said these issues concern entire Europe.

“Fraud cases have become large-scale and well-organized and these have been regularly sapping fiscal resources and thus tax revenues are also lower. We have agreed that there must be closer partnership between tax authorities. We will also extend reverse-charge VAT as much as possible in the EU,” he pointed out.

As far as sanctions against Russia are concerned, the Minister stressed “we all were of the opinion that conciliation within the EU must be maintained. We need solidarity in order to prevent that one country is played off against another,” he said. He emphasised that sanctions cannot be the panacea for the violation of political law. “We must find a new cure for remedying the Ukraine-Russia issue,” he stressed.

Commenting on the general state of the economies of CEE countries Mihály Varga said that the impact of the Russian crisis is a negative one, but from an economic aspect processes in Europe, and especially in Western Europe, are more important. “In case Western countries, the countries of the eurozone, are sluggish, if there is no growth, no jobs and no investment, the consequence may be a Europe-wide, full-blown crisis,” he explained.

Czech Finance Minister Andrej Babis said that the Czech Republic loses billions of euros every year due to tax fraud by organized gangs, therefore closer cooperation is in their very best interest.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble considered it highly favourable that participants have managed to come to an agreement on stepping up efforts against tax fraud.

(Ministry for National Economy)