Speaking on the sidelines of the Luxembourg state visit to France to our sister magazine Papaerjam, Luxembourg finance minister Pierre Gramegna said that Luxembourg was in favour of taxing digital giants. However, he said the initiative “alone”, without the consensus of the OECD countries (or G20) could harm the European Union.

Paperjam also reported that while sceptical of the interim proposal, the finance ministry was more favourable of the regarding the long-term initiative. In any case, the Commission's proposals will be studied in detail by the government.

The two proposals were announced on Wednesday. The first would oblige companies to pay tax if they have a significant digital presence in a member state. The second would impose a 3% tax on revenues from three main types of services where the main value is created through user participation: online advertising placement, sale of collected user data and digital platforms which enable people to interact.

Economy minister Étienne Schneider did not wish to further comment on Wednesday when asked during a visit to Airbus in Toulouse.