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The European Union removed Antigua and Barbuda from its tax haven blacklist on Tuesday, an instrument that has been slammed as ineffective in the past by anti-poverty groups.
The list, approved by the EU’s member states, now counts 11 jurisdictions deemed non-cooperative for tax purposes, particularly where it comes to sharing tax information.
It now has: American Samoa, Anguilla, Fiji, Guam, Palau, Panama, Russia, Samoa, Trinidad and Tobago, US Virgin Islands and Vanuatu.
“The Council regrets that these jurisdictions are not yet cooperative on tax matters and invites them to improve their legal framework in order to resolve the identified issues,” the council, made up of the EU’s 27 member states, said in a statement.
The list was created in 2017 in the wake of a series of scandals, including the Panama Papers, that put pressure on Brussels to crack down on tax evasion by the rich.
Charity Oxfam has in the past criticised it as “toothless”, arguing countries that should have been included were instead often left out.
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