Blacklisting

Heads of Government recognised that the blacklisting of CARICOM Member States by the European Union (EU) has wrought considerable reputational damage to the Community.  Despite all Member States, with the exception of one, being removed from the EU blacklist, the damage inflicted is irreparable and has consequential implications for building Member States’ economic and climate resilience given our inherent vulnerabilities.

Heads of Government emphasised the Community’s commitment to good governance and the drive to enhance Domestic Resource Mobilisation (DRM) in accordance with the United Nations (UN) Addis Ababa Action Agenda, while recognizing that small, highly vulnerable States also require access to external capital to build resilience.

In this regard, Heads of Government viewed the EU’s approach to “tax good governance” as an infringement of their sovereignty, coercive and harmful to the future of a key economic sector in CARICOM without providing any empirical evidence of instances of tax avoidance.

Heads of Government agreed that the Community’s strategy against blacklisting will be multi-dimensional and targeted to both the immediate protection of Member States’ sovereignty and their future relations with Europe.

Heads of Government have accordingly requested the EU to cease the blacklisting of CARICOM States which have already made commitments to reform their tax structures in good faith. 

Heads of Government have proposed that the EU should adopt a more collaborative approach which would allow Member States to conduct the required impact and sensitivity analyses to determine how to further align their tax regimes with global standards for tax transparency and governance.

Heads of Government noted other EU initiatives to identify countries with strategic deficiencies in their Anti Money Laundering/Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) frameworks as well as to monitor high risk investor citizenship and residence schemes within the context of their visa suspension mechanism for visa-free countries. 

In this regard, Heads of Government welcomed the initiative of the CARICOM Committee of Central Bank Governors to convene a Biennial Caribbean Regional Conference on AML/CFT Risk Management commencing in 2019.  This Conference will allow for the dissemination of information on Member States’ AML/CFT Frameworks as well as facilitate the Community’s engagement with AML/CFT stakeholders internationally.