European Union finance ministers are set to add the British overseas territory of Bermuda to the bloc’s blacklist of tax havens on Tuesday.
But Reuters reports that Italy is objecting to the inclusion of the United Arab Emirates to the list.
In the largest review of the list since its adoption in Dec. 2017,Finance ministers are expected to see the number of listed jurisdictions triple from the current five.
According to documents see by Reuters, the Caribbean island of Barbados and the Arab Sultanate of Oman are also on the expanded draft list. Other jurisdictions in the Caribbean and the Pacific Ocean are set to complete the updated list.
The 28-nation EU set up the blacklist after revelations of widespread tax avoidance schemes used by corporations and wealthy individuals to lower their tax bills.
Britain had pushed other EU states not to include Bermuda on the list, but has lifted its objections.
The draft list prepared by EU tax experts also includes the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a financial centre for the Middle East, but Italy and Estonia are blocking its inclusion.
A final decision will be made by finance ministers at a meeting on Tuesday.
At a closed-door meeting on Friday, the Italian representative said the UAE should be given until the end of this year to change its rules and comply with EU tax standards, a document shows.
