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Luxembourg has pledged to overhaul its culture of financial secrecy, as it fought back against the latest accusations that it helped leading multinationals avoid billions of dollars of tax.
卢森堡承诺彻底改变该国金融保密的文化，最近被指帮助大型跨国公司规避巨额税款的该国，正在极力反击这种说法。
The claims could prove highly embarrassing to Jean-Claude Juncker, the new president of the European Commission, who was prime minister when the corporate tax deals were allegedly struck.
上述说法可能让欧盟委员会(European Commission)新任主席让-克洛德•容克(Jean-Claude Juncker)相当难堪，那些公司税协议被指达成的时间与容克担任卢森堡首相的时间重合。
Officials were responding to a report that more than 340 multinationals, including such names as Pepsi, Procter & Gamble and JPMorgan, made secret deals with the Grand Duchy between 2002 and 2010 that saved them billions in taxes. The commission is already investigating whether rulings agreed by the Luxembourg tax authority with Fiat Finance and Trade, the financial arm of the car company, and Amazon, the internet retailer, amounted to state aid.
官员们是在回应一份报道，该报道称，逾340家跨国公司，包括百事可乐(Pepsi)、宝洁(Procter & Gamble)和摩根大通(JPMorgan)等知名公司，都曾在2002年至2010年之间与卢森堡大公国达成秘密协议，从而省下了巨额税款。对于卢森堡税务局与车企菲亚特(Fiat)旗下的菲亚特金融及贸易公司(Fiat Finance and Trade)以及互联网零售商亚马逊(Amazon)达成的裁决是否相当于国家援助，欧盟委员会已展开调查。
Pierre Gramegna, Luxembourg’s finance minister, refused to blame Mr Juncker for past practices but insisted his own government was now forging a new culture of financial transparency.
卢森堡财长皮埃尔•格拉梅尼亚(Pierre Gramegna)拒绝将过去的做法归罪于容克，但坚称现政府正在打造以金融透明度为特点的新文化。
But Gianni Pittella, the Italian lawmaker who heads the Socialist group in parliament, said:. “He must show whose side he is on. Is he on the side of European citizens or corporate tax dodgers?”
欧洲议会(European Parliament)的社会民主党团体领导人、意大利议员詹尼•皮泰拉(Gianni Pittella)表示：“他必须表明立场。他是站在欧洲公民一边，还是站在避税的企业一边？”
On Wednesday, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists published documents it said showed how companies had funnelled hundreds of billions of dollars through Luxembourg to save billions in taxes. The documents are mainly Advance Tax Agreements, so-called comfort letters that map out how companies will be taxed.
国际调查记者联盟(ICIJ)周三发布文件，称这些文件表明企业是如何通过卢森堡周转数千亿美元资金、从而省下数十亿美元税款的。这些文件主要是预先税务协议(Advance Tax Agreements)，即指明将如何对企业征税的所谓告慰函(comfort letter)。
Asked if Mr Juncker was responsible for the tax breaks, Mr Gramegna said: “It is not a politician or a government that does these rulings, it is an administrative procedure.” He said that Luxembourg was now ending banking secrecy, which had been one of the “cornerstones” of its national policy. Last month, Luxembourg dropped its long resistance to EU transparency rules and said it would allow European depositors’ data to be sent to home countries.
在被问及容克对这些税收优惠是否负有责任时，格拉梅尼亚表示：“这些决定不是由一位官员或一个政府决定的，而是由一套行政流程决定的。”他表示卢森堡如今即将废除银行业的保密原则，该原则此前是卢森堡国家政策的“基石”之一。上月，卢森堡放弃了对欧盟透明化规则的长期抵制，表示将允许欧洲储户的数据被发回储户的母国。
