EU legislators struck an anti-corruption deal Tuesday that aims to force big mining companies to make public the payments they make to governments where they operate, officials said. Bargaining between EU member states and European Parliament MEPs delivered the deal focused on companies with turnovers of 40 million euros, total assets worth 20 million or 250 employees, European Union Markets Commissioner Michel Barnier said in a statement.
The agreement covers "disclosure requirements for the extractive industry and loggers of primary forests and on simpler accounting requirements for small companies." French former foreign minister Barnier said the business was "far too often shrouded in secrecy," and that the new legislation would therefore "help fight tax evasion and corruption." It "shows how EU legislation can be a catalyst for change in developing countries," he added, arguing that communities in resource-rich territories "will finally be better informed about what their governments are being paid by multinationals for exploiting oil and gas fields, mineral deposits and forests."