Asselborn made the remarks during an appearance on German TV show “Hart, aber fair” (hard, but fair) on national channel ARD on Monday 6 November. The subject was tax avoidance schemes in light of the recent “Paradise Papers” and “how companies and wealthy individuals take us to the cleaners”.

Asselborn was soon asked to explain the grand duchy’s position on the issue. He stated that “we are changing the system” because Luxembourg had understood the signals since Luxleaks.

He explained that:

“I was embarrassed be the tax rulings, by the fact that we allowed these companies to not pay any taxes”, adding “there are no longer any letter box companies in Luxembourg.”

Every company is now obliged to prove that they also have activities and some form of management in Luxembourg, Asselborn said, citing Amazon and Ferrero as examples.

Asselborn argued that small countries should not be singled out, but a debate should be held on whether the current global tax regime was still relevant in the digital age.