European Commission - Speech [Check Against Delivery] Closing speech by Commissioner Hoekstra at the 2026 Tax Symposium Brussels, 17 March 2026 Honourable Members, Ladies and Gentlemen, Good afternoon, everybody here and online, It's fantastic to be here with all of you to wrap up this year's EU Tax Symposium. I've been hearing great things about the past two days. High calibre of speakers – I had the pleasure of jus...
European Commission - Speech [Check Against Delivery] Closing speech by Commissioner Hoekstra at the 2026 Tax Symposium Brussels, 17 March 2026 Honourable Members, Ladies and Gentlemen, Good afternoon, everybody here and online, It's fantastic to be here with all of you to wrap up this year's EU Tax Symposium. I've been hearing great things about the past two days. High calibre of speakers – I had the pleasure of just running into Professor Stiglitz in the elevator. Lively and thought-provoking debates. Valuable and I hope new connections. All in all, a great two days for EU tax. Big thanks to Pasquale Tridico for helping to make this Symposium into a great success. As well as your tireless efforts as Chairman of the FISC Sub-Committee. A very special thanks, too, to Gerassimos Thomas, for the amazing work he's done. Dear Gerassimos, This Symposium is very much your creation. You have a knack for bringing the right people together, and it's paid off in a big way. But beyond this event, I want to thank all of you in TAXUD for doing such a great job. You and your team have been incredibly proactive on all tax files as well as on CBAM – and this has made a huge difference, not just to me and my team, but frankly speaking to the EU. So once again, thank you, personally – and to everyone here – who has contributed to making this Symposium such a success. Ladies and Gentlemen, At this event last year, I spoke about my goals and vision as Commissioner responsible for taxation. I articulated that my aim was – and is – to drive EU tax initiatives that finance a stronger, cleaner, competitive and stable European Union. Policies that boost our competitiveness and the clean transition, encourage efficient and effective taxation, and promote fairness and transparency. At the time, a year ago, we were on the cusp of a fundamental rupture of an old, accustomed system and the beginning of something new and something unknown. Fast forward to today: It's clear, unfortunately, that the rupture has deepened. Rifts which were starting to emerge have grown wider. Geopolitics that were already complex a year ago have become even more complex. Global alliances that were once stable have been reshaped. And the most recent events in the Middle East are just the latest fuel on the fire. Given these headwinds, our vision remains more relevant than ever. Europe needs to stand on its own two feet – stronger, more competitive and independent. With all this in mind, I'd like to revisit the journey we embarked on a year ago: What have we achieved? What challenges still lie ahead? And how can we work together to drive further progress and impact? (Achievements) Our first major achievement was on CBAM simplification. When we kicked off the process, we had an initial timeline. It looked like we couldn't get this done before 2027. Or somewhere well into 2027. But the reality was this just wasn't acceptable for European businesses. We needed to have a better solution. And thanks to TAXUD's amazing work, but also Council and Parliament, we were able to simplify CBAM in record time, before the definitive period started. So, Ladies and Gentlemen, it can be done. What was the recipe for success? It was a combination of three things: First, we had the right content. We were able to exempt 90% of companies – keep in mind how big that is – from unnecessary bureaucracy, while at the same time upholding 99% of emissions within the scope. Second, there was appreciation in the real-world for our objectives. It was not something we were trying to force onto a hesitant world. It was something that was very much anticipated and appreciated. And third, we organised ourselves to be able to deliver quickly. And again, all parts of the European machinery played a role. With your support, we achieved something truly landmark in the domain of taxation, going right to the heart of our climate, competitiveness and independence goals. Another file we successfully concluded was ViDA, or VAT in the digital age. The goal here is simple: make life easier for our businesses and fight VAT fraud more efficiently. Companies will only need one VAT number to operate in the single market. That might sound trivial until you are yourself that company. And tax administrations will be receiving real-time data to make things more efficient. The impact is significant. We're talking about saving taxpayers EUR 15 to 20 billion every single year. More broadly, boosting Member States' finances – especially by reducing the tax gap – must remain a priority. We simply can't afford to leave money on the table. We need more money for the expenses that we have ahead of us. Increasing taxes is always difficult. Pushing a large bill to the next generation also comes with consequences. So getting the money we're entitled to is fair game. And therefore it's great to see the first edition of the ‘Mind the Gap' report released recently, assessing tax gaps and efficiency of tax collection across the EU. Then there was the work on Pillar 2. This was not easy. All options were coming with significant drawbacks and consequences. But overall, in my view, we can be satisfied with how things turned out. We kept the family together. And got a deal over the line with the agreement on the side-by-side package back in January. I know you've already had an extensive discussion today about what happens next, so I won't go into too much detail. But the agreement in my view has many benefits. It allows us to preserve tax peace, maintain a more stable global tax system, and ensure legal certainty for business. And by adopting DAC9, we ensured Pillar 2 would be implemented smoothly – even before things were concluded. Another area where we did well was in putting forward new ways to fund the EU's long-term budget. The whole conversation, politically complicated, on new ‘own resources', including: CBAM revenues. A new customs handling fee. And a tobacco excise duty own resource. And finally, we delivered on the Clean Industrial Deal by recommending that Member States come forward with tax incentives to drive clean investment. Because that is what the EU so desperately needs. Of course, there were certainly some bumps along the road. It's unfortunate – and I'm going to be frank with you – that we didn't progress yet on the Energy Taxation Directive, despite the hard work done by the Danish Presidency and many others. But all in all – and with all your help – the glass truly is half full in a domain that is difficult by definition. (Looking ahead) So good start. Good progress. But much more to be done. Four key points here. First, on the modernisation of the Tobacco Taxation Directive. Our new proposal taxes more products, like e-cigarettes, previously not in scope. This makes so much sense from a public health perspective. These new nicotine products are highly addictive, especially for teenagers and kids, who are getting hooked from a young age. On top of that, we're looking into increase EU tax rates on tobacco. Frankly speaking, the EU rates we have today have become pretty much meaningless. Current minimum rates are just not enough to tackle cross-border traffic, counterfeit goods and tax evasion – costing us EUR 13 billion every year. Again, money tax collectors are entitled to get in. Second, simplification is another priority. This is key to building a more competitive Union. And let's be honest about it. We as politicians, at EU and national levels, have made things too complicated. Simplification is not about lowering the bar. Rather, it's about tackling a problem we know all too well: Excessive red tape that's causing a real headache for businesses and tax authorities, driving up administration and compliance costs. This makes us less attractive to investment. It stifles innovation. And limits our ability to create new jobs. And that is something we simply can't afford right now. This is why we'll come forward with a big simplification package in direct tax area. It will include the Taxation Omnibus. The aim is to reduce unnecessary reporting and compliance burden, streamline tax rules and get rid of outdated rules and overlaps. The package also includes the DAC. We're looking into how to lighten the load for taxpayers and tax authorities – as we should. And we will assess how important policy objectives that are still valid but haven't progressed in Council can be integrated into future proposals. We'll also work on simplifying Pillar 2 as part of the OECD process. To be clear, we stand behind the objectives on minimum effective taxation. At the same time, we need to ensure it works in practice and that everyone plays by the same rules. We will also explore avenues to move forward on Pillar 1 and remain confident – or maybe you should say cautiously confident – that a swift and constructive global solution can be reached. As it should. We're ready to engage with the global community and look forward to entering discussions with an open mindset. Everything we do, Ladies and Gentlemen, is about making our Union more competitive. And that includes tomorrow's new proposal on a 28 th Regime for Innovative Companies. The idea is to give these companies a single set of rules to invest and do business across the Single Market. It also has tax angle that will allow us to draw in and retain talent. Some may say this is not enough. Others might say it's too much. But we need to be pragmatic, realistic, and move the needle. This is just the beginning of our efforts to boost our competitiveness. And in that same vein, later this year, we'll be proposing new VAT rules to make our travel sector more competitive, again by making rules simpler. This will especially benefit travel agents and passenger transport operators. Ladies and Gentlemen, The third priority is CBAM. As an add-on to the Emissions Trading System, CBAM is hugely important for our climate, competitiveness and independence goals. I know there has been calls for suspension in specific sectors. But we should not fall into this trap: this would simply be the wrong solution. What we need to do is stay the course on CBAM. Last December, we put forward two landmark proposals to strengthen CBAM and establish a temporary decarbonisation fund. The aim is to have this agreed before year end. The first proposal extends CBAM to production further down the supply chain, in a targeted way. This will cover only metal-intensive products and we're keeping the compliance rules simple. It will apply to everyday goods like car doors, washing machines, kitchen and garden equipment. To prevent fraudulent practices, we're also introducing new anti-circumvention measures. This will include additional reporting requirements in certain cases, so that country values are applied where we don't get enough evidence. As for the temporary support mechanism, it uses money from national CBAM revenues to address remaining risks of carbon leakage. It will stay in place for two years, refunding allowances paid in 2026/2027. Fourth and final priority: circularity. There is huge potential for circularity in general. But also to use taxes and levies to help make Europe a world leader in the circular economy. Again, this goes right to the heart of our climate, competitiveness, and independence goals. It's about recycled plastics, textiles, or batteries. Take textiles for example: With the rise of fast fashion, there are billions of products travelling by plane, also often impossible to recycle. This is unsustainable, wasteful and costly. Circularity, on the other hand, maximises our limited resources. It reduces dependencies, waste, production costs and emissions. And ultimately, it helps us build a more sustainable industrial model that's good for both economy and planet. Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear friends, Time to wrap up. Tax affects us all, across every part of society. Citizens notice it on their pay cheques and bills, including on energy. Businesses do the same and decide whether to invest and scale-up, hold back or even relocate. This is why the conversation on tax – the one you had over these two days – is so important. It connects the dots between the EU's efforts on simplification, innovation and competitiveness. It's a tool for social fairness and a field for high-stake international cooperation. Is success guaranteed? Clearly it isn't. It never is. In any area of politics, or life, in general. But if it were easy, none of you would be here. So thank you for coming, for supporting us, giving us feedback and food for thought on EU tax policy. I tremendously value the interaction and cooperation. I look forward to continuing this work with all of you for a stronger, more competitive and resilient European Union. SPEECH/26/634 Press contacts: Ricardo CARDOSO (+32 2 29 80100) Bridget MOYLAN (+32 2 29 82844) General public inquiries: Europe Direct by phone 00 800 67 89 10 11 or by email
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