Macron: It would 'make sense' for Ireland to adopt OECD corporation tax proposals

French president speaks of EU solidarity with Ireland post-Brexit during his official visit to Dublin

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, with Taoiseach Micheál Martin at Government Buildings earlier today. Mr Martin said Ireland had reservations about the proposed deal, but would continue to engage with the international community on corporate tax rates. Picture: Julien Behal

The French president says he "does not pressure his friends", but that it would "make sense" for Ireland to adopt the OECD proposals on standardising corporation tax.

Emmanuel Macron praised Ireland's economic model but said that in the post-Covid world, "things are different".

He added that it would "make sense" for Ireland to end its resistance to the OECD deal on corporation tax. Mr Macron was speaking during an official visit to the capital on Thursday. 

The fact that Ireland is one of just nine holdouts on an OECD agreement which would standardise corporate tax rates at "at least 15%" meant that Mr Macron was accompanied on his visit to Dublin by his finance minister Bruno Le Maire, who held a meeting with his Irish counterpart Paschal Donohoe. While it is understood that Mr Donohoe laid out Ireland's position to Mr Le Maire, on the steps of Government Buildings Mr Macron said that he "does not pressure his friends".

“This is for you to lead. This is not for France to put pressure. But I think the OECD framework works in the context,” Mr Macron said: 

It makes sense in terms of co-operation. It makes sense in terms of the EU. I think our citizens no more understand that when you are an SME you pay tax. But when you are a big corporation you don't pay tax. I am confident, but I'm not putting pressure. I'm working with your Taoiseach. 

 

Mr Macron said Ireland's economic model in recent years has been "unique", but said that in the post-Covid world, people expect more from governments and this meant more from corporations, too.

President Michael D Higgins greeting French president Emmanuel Macron as he visited Áras an Uachtaráin during his official visit to Ireland. Picture: Clodagh Kilcoyne/Pool/AFP

“The situation is quite different. The post-Covid world is quite new,” he said. “I want to believe that we will find the right path together, in order to deliver a common framework and to deliver this minimum taxation, because I do believe it makes sense.”

Mr Macron said that French people do not understand why larger businesses pay lower tax rates than large multinationals.

“Our citizens can no more understand that when you are an SME, you pay tax but when you are a big digital group, you don’t pay tax. They want us to change the system,” he said.

"This is for you to lead and decide for yourselves, this is not for France to put pressure.”

Taoiseach Micheál Martin, however, said that Ireland has reservations about the deal. Mr Martin did say, however, that Ireland would continue to engage ahead of renewed talks on the deal in October.

“There are significant challenges for us in respect of this process. But we are in no doubt that we will be engaging constructively in the process, and there’s some journey yet to go in that.”

Mr Macron was in Ireland on an official visit ahead of France taking over the EU presidency in the first half of 2022, and his visit saw the signing of the Ireland-France Joint Plan of Action, which commits to a programme of co-operation across a wide policy spectrum of areas, including education and research, as well as in promoting the French language here and Irish studies in France.

Leaders respond to news of Kabul bomb attack 

Before the news conference, word filtered through of the bomb attack in Kabul, with the French president saying that he was still unclear of the circumstances. However, Mr Macron said that the US withdrawal from Afghanistan meant that France could not protect the Afghan people.

Nobody expected such a rapid and brutal situation in Kabul. President Biden confirmed to us during the G7 that he will leave the military airport and stop its operations with Afghanistan. I think, de facto, all of us are put in a position where we cannot protect all the Afghan people we wanted to protect. 

He said that international coordination is needed to ensure the safety of those in Kabul.

“We are being confronted with a very tense situation, which leads us to co-ordinate with our American allies.

"We will also closely co-ordinate on the issues to be dealt with in the near future, military co-operation, migration issues and co-operate with the UN Security Council, because in the coming days and weeks we will have to define the course of the mandate of the United Nations.

"The coming hours will remain extremely dangerous in Kabul and around the airport."

Mr Martin, meanwhile, said that Ireland would be "generous in the number of refugees it takes.

Ireland will be generous in terms of refugees from Afghanistan. And we want to respond in a humanitarian and generous way, and we will do that. 

"We also want to ensure that as refugees come into the country they have a strong capacity here to create a good life for them. In addition to that, we want to support the Afghan community already in Ireland. We're conscious that they have an extended family as well still in Afghanistan.

"So we will do everything we possibly can to respond in the correct humanitarian way to a terrible humanitarian crisis that has been unfolding in Afghanistan itself. Our emergency consular team has begun the process of returning to Ireland and they've assisted our citizens to come back."

Higgins and Macron speak of EU solidarity

Dublin was the 24th European capital that Mr Macron has touched down in, as he seeks to put France at the heart of a renewed EU in a post-Covid and post Brexit world. On the latter, the French president said that France will not be found wanting in supporting Ireland. He said France will fight to ensure that the Northern Irish protocol and all other previous agreements are adhered to.

President Michael D Higgins strolling in the grounds of Áras an Uachtaráin with the president of France, Emmanuel Macron, along with the President's Bernese Mountain dogs, Bród and Misneach. Picture: Maxwells

“From the start, Europe has been united and stood in solidarity. It will remain united, there is no doubt about it. It is an existential issue. To put it bluntly - we will never let you down."

Mr Macron later walked to Trinity College with Mr Martin, passing a tiny handful of anti-vaccine protesters before meeting French business people at the Guinness Enterprise Centre.

Speaking at the official dinner at Áras an Uachtarain on Thursday evening, President Michael D Higgins echoed Mr Macron's pronouncements throughout the day, calling for the reinvigoration of the "mind of Europe".

The European Union has a unique opportunity, and bears responsibility to assert and, where necessary, reassert, its founding values ​​of democracy, cohesion, shared prospects, human rights and the rule of law in an increasingly interdependent world in which those values ​​are challenged. 

"Such values ​​are neither abstract, optional, nor are they confined by borders.
"In offering a vision for Europe's future and the cultivation of what might constitute a 'mind of Europe', we must re-engage with the street and do so with authenticity and courage if we are to regain trust. We are challenged to advance a critical debate on the future of European values."