October 12, 2026

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The European Post

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Social Security Coordination Reform Clears The Council After A DecadeCreative Europe 2027 Budget Sets €402 Million For Final YearNature Restoration Plans Reach Brussels As Review Clock StartsBerlin Sudan Aid Pledges Now Face A Delivery TestLebanon Tranche Ties EU Support For Lebanon To Reform GoalsLeaving The Parental Home Now Takes Until 26.3 Across The EUDigital Fairness Act Targets Dark Patterns Before Q4 DraftSatellite Operators Await The EU Space Act TriloguesCeuta Crisis Hangs Over Leaders Debate On Irregular Border CrossingsTen Warships Needed For Operation Aspides As Foreign Ministers MeetAmbassadors Weigh Digital Omnibus Cookie Rules On Sunday VoteHousing Exclusion Recommendation Heads To MinistersCapital Markets Supervision Package Wins A Council PositionPanama And Viet Nam Exit The EU Tax Blacklist In ReviewSixteen Capitals Run Late On The Consumer Credit Directive DeadlineBuilding Renovation Plans Leave Nine Capitals Facing EU Legal ActionEU-China Hybrid Car Deal Leaves Leaders To Judge Beijing’s OfferSwitzerland-EU Treaty Package Faces A Cantonal Majority Test In 2027Hybrid Threats Draw The EU Partnership Mission In ArmeniaFarm Quotas Hinge On The EU-Mercosur Interim Trade AgreementSocial Security Coordination Reform Clears The Council After A DecadeCreative Europe 2027 Budget Sets €402 Million For Final YearNature Restoration Plans Reach Brussels As Review Clock StartsBerlin Sudan Aid Pledges Now Face A Delivery TestLebanon Tranche Ties EU Support For Lebanon To Reform GoalsLeaving The Parental Home Now Takes Until 26.3 Across The EUDigital Fairness Act Targets Dark Patterns Before Q4 DraftSatellite Operators Await The EU Space Act TriloguesCeuta Crisis Hangs Over Leaders Debate On Irregular Border CrossingsTen Warships Needed For Operation Aspides As Foreign Ministers MeetAmbassadors Weigh Digital Omnibus Cookie Rules On Sunday VoteHousing Exclusion Recommendation Heads To MinistersCapital Markets Supervision Package Wins A Council PositionPanama And Viet Nam Exit The EU Tax Blacklist In ReviewSixteen Capitals Run Late On The Consumer Credit Directive DeadlineBuilding Renovation Plans Leave Nine Capitals Facing EU Legal ActionEU-China Hybrid Car Deal Leaves Leaders To Judge Beijing’s OfferSwitzerland-EU Treaty Package Faces A Cantonal Majority Test In 2027Hybrid Threats Draw The EU Partnership Mission In ArmeniaFarm Quotas Hinge On The EU-Mercosur Interim Trade Agreement
October 12, 2026

Newsletter

The European Post

Policy • Diplomacy • strategic insight

LATEST
Social Security Coordination Reform Clears The Council After A DecadeCreative Europe 2027 Budget Sets €402 Million For Final YearNature Restoration Plans Reach Brussels As Review Clock StartsBerlin Sudan Aid Pledges Now Face A Delivery TestLebanon Tranche Ties EU Support For Lebanon To Reform GoalsLeaving The Parental Home Now Takes Until 26.3 Across The EUDigital Fairness Act Targets Dark Patterns Before Q4 DraftSatellite Operators Await The EU Space Act TriloguesCeuta Crisis Hangs Over Leaders Debate On Irregular Border CrossingsTen Warships Needed For Operation Aspides As Foreign Ministers MeetAmbassadors Weigh Digital Omnibus Cookie Rules On Sunday VoteHousing Exclusion Recommendation Heads To MinistersCapital Markets Supervision Package Wins A Council PositionPanama And Viet Nam Exit The EU Tax Blacklist In ReviewSixteen Capitals Run Late On The Consumer Credit Directive DeadlineBuilding Renovation Plans Leave Nine Capitals Facing EU Legal ActionEU-China Hybrid Car Deal Leaves Leaders To Judge Beijing’s OfferSwitzerland-EU Treaty Package Faces A Cantonal Majority Test In 2027Hybrid Threats Draw The EU Partnership Mission In ArmeniaFarm Quotas Hinge On The EU-Mercosur Interim Trade AgreementSocial Security Coordination Reform Clears The Council After A DecadeCreative Europe 2027 Budget Sets €402 Million For Final YearNature Restoration Plans Reach Brussels As Review Clock StartsBerlin Sudan Aid Pledges Now Face A Delivery TestLebanon Tranche Ties EU Support For Lebanon To Reform GoalsLeaving The Parental Home Now Takes Until 26.3 Across The EUDigital Fairness Act Targets Dark Patterns Before Q4 DraftSatellite Operators Await The EU Space Act TriloguesCeuta Crisis Hangs Over Leaders Debate On Irregular Border CrossingsTen Warships Needed For Operation Aspides As Foreign Ministers MeetAmbassadors Weigh Digital Omnibus Cookie Rules On Sunday VoteHousing Exclusion Recommendation Heads To MinistersCapital Markets Supervision Package Wins A Council PositionPanama And Viet Nam Exit The EU Tax Blacklist In ReviewSixteen Capitals Run Late On The Consumer Credit Directive DeadlineBuilding Renovation Plans Leave Nine Capitals Facing EU Legal ActionEU-China Hybrid Car Deal Leaves Leaders To Judge Beijing’s OfferSwitzerland-EU Treaty Package Faces A Cantonal Majority Test In 2027Hybrid Threats Draw The EU Partnership Mission In ArmeniaFarm Quotas Hinge On The EU-Mercosur Interim Trade Agreement

Panama And Viet Nam Exit The EU Tax Blacklist In Review

Mikhail Baryshnikov
Breaking News Reporter, Taxation

The EU tax blacklist lost two names on 9 October 2026, when finance ministers meeting in the Economic and Financial Affairs Council removed Panama and Viet Nam from the list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes. The half-yearly review leaves eight countries and territories on the main list, known as Annex I: American Samoa, Anguilla, Guam, Palau, Russia, the Turks and Caicos Islands, the US Virgin Islands and Vanuatu.

Panama had stood on the EU tax blacklist since February 2020. The Council said it saw significant steps to address outstanding issues, and officials point to Panama’s reform of a tax exemption regime for foreign-sourced income that the EU had judged harmful. The country also received a fresh positive assessment from the OECD Global Forum on tax transparency.

Viet Nam’s stay was much shorter. It joined the list in February 2026 after a Global Forum assessment found shortcomings in how it exchanges tax information, and it has now reformed enough to leave. Neither country is fully clear yet. Both moved to Annex II, the intermediate category for jurisdictions that have made commitments but whose verification is incomplete, pending an in-depth Global Forum review of their exchange-of-information frameworks.

Annex II saw other movement. Belize came off that list after a positive Global Forum assessment of its systems for exchanging information on request. Montenegro completed its commitment to an in-depth review, but it stays under monitoring until the outcome is published. Brunei Darussalam received additional time to align its tax framework with the principles of fair taxation. Annex II now holds ten jurisdictions, including the British Virgin Islands, Greenland, Jordan, Morocco and Türkiye.

The review also carried a warning. Anguilla did not address concerns about its exchange-of-information framework, and the Council expressed regret and invited the territory to engage with the EU Code of Conduct Group and the Global Forum. Vanuatu made progress on tax transparency, yet it remains listed because of concerns in another area. The message from the latest EU tax blacklist update to capitals outside Europe is that partial reform buys time, not a clean exit.

Why does the EU tax blacklist matter beyond diplomacy? The list rests on objective, internationally recognised criteria, including tax transparency, fair taxation and implementation of the OECD standards against base erosion and profit shifting. Member states can attach defensive measures to listed jurisdictions, and companies that do business there face closer scrutiny. Removal therefore changes the compliance picture for banks, investors and multinational groups.

The process also shows how the Council steers the exercise while the Commission provides technical assistance. Established in December 2017 as part of the EU’s strategy against tax evasion and avoidance, the list is reviewed twice a year. The next review is due in February 2027, which gives Anguilla, Vanuatu and the Annex II jurisdictions about four months to deliver.

Taxation experts will watch the EU tax blacklist closely in 2027, and whether Panama and Viet Nam clear their Global Forum reviews without delay. If they do, the EU tax blacklist will have shrunk to the territories and states with the weakest links to European finance, and the pressure will fall on those that remain.

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