Developing countries accuse the EU and the UK of boycotting the new UN’s financial functions

A group of developing countries accuses the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom of frustrating joint efforts to give the United Nations (UN) new financial functions, such as greater participation in the global tax debate. This Monday, November 13, reports the Financial Times, citing sources..

In 2022, a resolution presented by 54 African countries was unanimously approved at the UN, which aimed to give the organization a new role in financial matters, calling for the preparation of a report with options.

UN The General Secretariat will present a document with possibilities for new financial functions for the organization, including a common international tax on corporate profits covering the organization’s 193 member states.

“Decision report sought. They de-authorize the report and they dis-authorize the whole process and kill him,” a diplomatic source in one of the developing countries told a British newspaper. “They don’t want to bring financial issues” to the UN, he sums up.

This is despite supporters of the resolution “trying to negotiate in good faith. The EU and the UK are unwilling to do so and are trying to delay the process (…) It is a plan to maintain the status quo and keep developing countries on the periphery,” another source of the financial debate told the Financial Times.

Europe’s aim, they say, is to limit the tax debate to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which reached an agreement between 136 countries to impose a minimum tax of 15% on corporate profits by 2021.

However, developing countries such as Brazil and India are unhappy with the debate within the OECD, which, according to these countries, tends to prioritize the interests of developed countries, alleging a lack of transparency; And they took the discussions to the UN.

According to the Financial Times, the EU and UK will bypass the process to avoid splitting the world into financial blocs. The newspaper’s reports are something the UK government denies. The European Commission has not commented on the allegations.

In the EU, even among the finance ministers of the 27, although they agree that the UN is a place of unrestricted discussions on financial matters, the position in practice is different: Europe has proposed the creation of a group. The work to discuss the new functions of the United Nations, which will only be formally presented in September 2025.