Ireland says to resist Junker plan to prevent vetoes on EU tax reform

[September 14, 2017]  DUBLIN (Reuters) - Ireland will resist any attempt to strip it of its veto over European Union tax policy, Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe said on Thursday after the European Commission's head suggested tax changes be made by "qualified majority."

Paschal Donohoe poses for a picture after an interview with Reuters at the Ministry of Finance in Dublin, Ireland September 22, 2016. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne

In a speech on Wednesday, Jean-Claude Juncker urged EU states to make the change as the current practice of unanimous decisions had blocked major overhauls of European Union tax legislation.

"I and this government will not participate in any decision that changes our ability to protect our national interest on key issues like that," Donohoe told Irish broadcaster RTE. "The need for unanimity... is a core issue of how the European Union manages issues like this."

Major reform of how multinational companies are taxed, such as those championed by Junker "would be a very very big economic challenge for Ireland," Donohoe added.

(Reporting by Conor Humphries; editing by John Stonestreet)

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