Fiji Calls the European Union a ‘Bully’

Under the guise of tax cooperation, the European Union has particularly picked on smaller and weaker countries whose domestic tax policies are naturally geared toward economic growth, says Fiji’s Economy Minister Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum. He made this comment following Fiji being blacklisted by the EU.

Khaiyum said smaller countries were bullied in the name of tax cooperation. “In Fiji’s case, the blacklisting by the EU is largely attributed to our position to maintain the following tax incentives which have been introduced to support investment, exports and jobs of ordinary Fijians.” Despite Fiji’s tax regime benchmarked against the best international practice, Khaiyum said the EU blacklist reeks of double standards. “We are not being treated equally, there are many countries in the world that have various tax incentives, infact, we modeled some of our tax incentives based on these countries but they have not been blacklisted.” The minister gave Singapore as an example.

Experts say blacklisted countries face reputational damage and stricter controls on transactions with the EU, although no sanctions have yet been agreed by the EU states. The Dutch Caribbean Island of Aruba, Barbados, Belize, the British overseas territory of Bermuda, Oman, the United Arab Emirates and Dominica have also been blacklisted by the EU.