EU member states have ordered Turkey to comply with key demands on financial transparency by June or face being put on the bloc’s tax ha- ven blacklist. Only intervention by Germany, which is sensitive about keeping Turkey compliant with a pact that restricts immigration into the EU, has saved Ankara from being black- listed immediately, diplomats said on Tuesday.
Member states including France, Greece, Cyprus and Austria oppose giving Turkey more time to comply. However, for the time being, Turkey remains on the “grey list” of offend- ers that have been asked to make changes to their policies and are given the time to do it.
One diplomat spoke of a “very tough” June deadline. If Turkey fails to deliver by then, he said, Ankara would be blacklisted in the next up- date to the list in October. Turkey is accused of failing to com- ply with international standards on the automatic exchange of tax infor- mation, including transparency and prevention of tax evasion. The EU also wants to tackle tax evasion through money laundering in third countries. The Turkish opposition has ques- tioned the Erdogan regime over .
“Tenders are being handled with- out any supervision. Irregularities and corruption go unpunished. This is why they don’t care about the law anymore. The system is corrupted,” said Murat Agirel, a dissident jour- nalist who was jailed for his work. However, legislation alone will not be sufficient for Turkey to align with EU tax regulations. “Front” companies that bid for govern- ment contracts to conceal the real winner of a tender recently made headlines in the country.
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