Germany, its citizens and honest politicians, have plenty of reasons to be incensed by the revelations that top local business people have defrauded state coffers by making use, illegally, of European tax havens. But, arguably, all EU member states confront, more or less, this misconduct. One way to look at this problem is to try to close all loopholes, which would involve the status of current tax havens.

But there is a broader aspect at stake here, which is the social responsibility of people at the apex of economic, and sometimes, political, power; when they misbehave so blatantly they bring not only their reputation down, but they also deal severe blows to the functioning of our institutions.

How does the Council intend to broaden the scope of the fight against tax evasion to the area of moral accountability and the need to prevent the erosion of our citizens' s confidence in democratic institutions? Can we ask citizens, at large, to undergo painful reforms, were they needed, while some of those much better off disregard fundamental tenets of decency and civic behaviour?