On Tuesday, 12 March 2019, the European\nUnion issued a revised list of countries purportedly not adhering to tax good\ngovernance which included five (5) Members of the Caribbean Community,\nBarbados, Belize Dominica, Trinidad and Tobago and Bermuda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Seven (7) other Members of the Community\nhave been placed on a monitoring list having made commitments to undertake\nreforms by December 2019 and are making efforts in that regard. These are Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas,\nSt Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Anguilla, British Virgin Islands and Cayman\nIslands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The narrative provided by the EU Council\nto support the inclusion of the blacklisted States is grossly misleading and\nmisrepresents the response, in good faith, of our Members since the initial\nlisting in December 2017. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This renewed attack on our Member\nStates\u2019 economic prospects constitutes an infringement of our sovereign right\nof self-determination in the best interests of the CARICOM people. Moreover, we are concerned that the EU\u2019s \u2018tax\ngood governance strategy\u2019 is beginning to border on anti-competitive behavior\ntargeted at the decimation of the international business\/financial services\nsector in the Caribbean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
MPs\nwill vote again on Brexit on Friday but it is not clear whether it will be\nanother “meaningful vote” on the PM’s withdrawal deal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Asked whether the motion would be the\n“full package”, Commons Leader Andrea Leadsom said discussion was\n“ongoing”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There is speculation that MPs might be\nasked to vote on the withdrawal agreement but not the further “political\ndeclaration”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Labour said that would lead to the\n“blindest of blind Brexits”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Shadow Brexit Secretary Sir Keir Starmer\nsaid both European Council President Donald Tusk and European Commission\nPresident Jean-Claude Juncker had stressed that the withdrawal agreement and\npolitical declaration – outlining how UK-EU trade, security and other issues\ncould work – were part of the same “negotiated package”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said to separate them “would\nmean leaving the EU with absolutely no idea where we are heading … we\nwouldn’t vote for that”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n