Tuesday, 14 May 2013 09:16
Posted by Parvez Jabri
BRUSSELS: European finance ministers bid Tuesday to unlock a trillion-euro annual crackdown on tax evasion, under pressure from EU leaders looking for new measures to boost job creation and growth at their Brussels summit next week.The meeting is expected to be laborious, with Austrian seeking guarantees before agreeing to the automatic sharing of bank records and amid squabbling over the need for treaty change to fix a seemingly stalled banking union sold as the final fix for the debt crisis.That and a ticking clock on negotiations over the European Union's shrinking budget and rising unpaid bills, following inconclusive talks convened by EU President Herman Van Rompuy on MondayFor once, the finance ministers should be relatively refreshed after exceptionally light eurozone discussions on Monday -- notwithstanding increasing concerns over the possible need for a joint bailout of indebted Slovenia.Lower-level officials slaving away on the mechanics of complex impacts on trillions in ...