BRUSSELS, Nov. 7 -- The European Union finance ministers discussed the tax haven blacklist in Brussels on Tuesday in their monthly meeting and intended to approve the list in December.
"Today we heard an overview of the preparations of the list of third countries that do not cooperate with us sufficiently on tax issues," said Toomas Toniste, Estonian finance minister, who chaired Tuesday's meeting as part of Estonia's EU presidency.
"Our intention is to approve this list in December," he added.
European Commission vice-president Valdis Dombrovskis, responsible for the euro and social dialogue, backed his idea.
"We also discussed the EU blacklist for non-cooperative tax jurisdictions. The work on this list is ongoing as planned and we hope for an agreement on this list at the December ECOFIN," Dombrovskis said.
He also called for sanctions against tax evasion, saying "We also call for an agreement on counter-measures against those jurisdictions which will end up on the list."