Tax evasion and tax avoidance feature highly on the agenda of this year’s meeting of leaders of the world’s richest countries starting today at Lough Erne. Recent reports on the low or no corporation tax paid by large companies, and on tax evasion by individuals, have made headlines. Evidence of the erosive effects of such practices on public revenues and their implications for development has led to mounting public demand for reform.
It’s easy to be cynical about G8 summits. But, as David Cameron prepares to host the annual meeting of leaders from the world’s richest countries in Lough Erne, Northern Ireland, the British government has a unique opportunity to provide leadership on issues at the heart of global poverty and inequality – and to restore the credibility of the G8 in global economic governance.
Back at the first RioEarth Summitin 1992, the civil society organisations in attendance counted an unusual group among their number. Amid the assorted staffers and activists from environmental and development NGOs, there was a handful of campaigners who had a very different relationship with the Earth: representatives of an astronauts' organisation. Their reason for being there? Having seen the planet from space, they'd learned to view it from a different angle.
The deal on the EEAS puts an end to months of in-fighting, turf wars and protracted negotiations.
The text says that ‘prosperity is indivisible’ and that the recovery plan must safeguard the needs and jobs of hard-working families in all the countries of the world.
This article argues that the G20 summit in Washington must focus on an inclusive and dynamic renewal of the global development agenda - a task in which Europe has a vital role to play.
A renewed commitment to multilateralism may be one of the benefits of the financial crisis. Coordinated action by Governments and Central Banks is one indicator of change. There are others.