The US message to EU countries has been clear: The agreement reached on a global minimum level of corporate tax must be reached first, before the EU and its member states come up with something of their own when it comes to taxing online giants, such as Facebook and Google.

The agreement we reached in the (Economic Cooperation Organization) OECD discussions urges countries to remove existing digital taxes that the United States sees as discriminatory and to avoid taking similar measures in the future. Now it is up to the European Commission and EU members to decide how they intend to proceed, said US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Sunday.

May wait

The EU’s response was swift. The proposal that should have been presented as early as next week is now being put on hold, for the time being.

– The Commission has decided to wait for our proposal for a digital fee, says spokesman Daniel Ferrie at the Commission’s daily press briefing in Brussels on Monday.

The Commission justifies the decision by first seeking an end to the G20 corporate tax settlement.

– It will require a final effort from all sides, says Ferrie.

“Sensible”

Minister of Finance Magdalena Andersson (S) is satisfied.

– It seems sensible. We have always thought that these are global issues and therefore we should seek a global solution and there we seem to have come closer now, Andersson says on his way to a meeting in Brussels on Monday with his colleagues from the rest of the EU and with USA’s Janet Yellen as a special guest.

The Commission’s announcement means that the meeting now does not risk landing in sour mines about the digital tax. Andersson instead expects a more general discussion.

– I would guess that there will be a fairly broad discussion about the economic recovery now after the crisis, how to design a policy that can restart the economies with a focus on equality and sustainability, says the Minister of Finance in Brussels.