Luxembourg Bows To EU Over Big Firm Tax Deals

Luxembourg has agreed to give European Commission officials a list of hundreds of companies with which it has tax deals.

The low-tax territory has done a U-turn over the data, after originally threatening to take the EU to court in a bid to keep the multinationals' names secret.

Prime Minister Xavier Bettel said his country would now comply with the commission's demands over the deals signed between 2010 and 2013, as part of a new EU-wide order.

"If the rules are the same for everyone, we are really not in opposition to them," Mr Bettel said.

The volte-face comes after leaked documents showed last month that the small country - which has the highest per capita GDP in the EU - had tax deals with 400 multinationals.

Revelations included effective tax rates of less than 1% for some firms, causing controversy in Brussels for newly elected commission president Jean-Claude Juncker.

Mr Juncker was Luxembourg's PM for 18 years until 2013, covering the period of interest for the commission.

Luxembourg's population is around 560,000, with the financial sector accounting for more than a third of GDP.

According to the CIA, most banks are foreign owned and 40% of its workers are cross-border or foreigners.

A number of well-known companies have set their financial hubs in the country, channelling revenue and intellectual property rights from other EU nations into it.

Luxembourg is also being investigated aver claims it offered state aid to online retail giant Amazon and the finance division of Fiat.

Similar inquires by the EU have been launched into the affairs of IT giant Apple in Ireland and global coffee chain Starbucks' in the Netherlands.