Template tweets *UPDATED ON FRIDAY 27 NOVEMBER*

Note: We’ve included this variety of options to respond to the different campaigning style and requests of members, so you can choose to use any that suit your style or take inspiration from below and create your own. It will seem repetitive as there are some template tweets with positive framing and some with critical framing, as well as some focusing on the absence of the file on the 19 and 20 COMPET agenda and more focused on calling for it to be on the COMPET agenda on the 27 November.

New tweets added on 27 November:

• Our Ministers could have voted on important #transparency rules to help fight tax avoidance today (by making big companies publish how much tax they pay in each country). Instead, Germany @EU2020DE blocked progress on #taxjustice by keeping public #CBCR off the #COMPET agenda. [add photo below & tag the Ministers in the photo]
• Today, the German Presidency of the EU blocked a major opportunity for #taxjustice. Ministers could have voted on #transparency rules to help fight tax avoidance (by making big companies publish how much tax they pay in each country), but @EU2020DE kept public #CBCR off the table. [add photo below & tag the Ministers in the photo]
• Each year, governments lose hundreds of billions to #taxdodging by big multinationals. Secrecy helps enable this & #transparency is an important part of the solution. Ministers could have voted for public #CBCR today, but @EU2020DE blocked #taxjustice by keeping it off the table. [add photo below & tag the Ministers in the photo]
• .@EU2020DE blocked a vital opportunity for #taxjustice today - EU governments could have backed #transparency rules that would allow citizens see how much tax large MNCs are paying & where they pay it. Instead, Germany kept it off the table. #CBCR [add photo below & tag the Ministers in the photo]
• More than 225,000 citizens across the EU called on @EU2020DE to schedule a vote on transparency for #taxjustice this month! Instead @peteraltmaier @OlafScholz @akk & @BMJV_Bund blocked this important proposal for public #CBCR. [add photo below & tag the Ministers in the photo]
• Last Friday, German Justice Minister #Lambrecht received the demand of 226,000 European people - we want EU governments to vote on #transparency for #taxjustice! Today @EU2020DE blocked public #CBCR by keeping it off the @EUCouncil agenda. [add photo below & tag the Ministers in the photo]
• The German Presidency of the EU had an opportunity to take a huge step forward in the fight against #taxavoidance this month, by introducing #transparency about how much tax large multinationals pay & where they pay it. Instead, @EU2020DE blocked public #CBCR again today! [add photo below & tag the Ministers in the photo]
• Countries lose hundreds of billions to #taxdodging every year - money that is urgently needed to fight #Covid19 & fund healthcare. Today, EU governments missed an opportunity to on agree #transparency for #taxjustice. We can’t afford any more delays! @EU2020DE [add photo below & tag the Ministers in the photo]
• This video explains why citizens, trade unions & civil society organisations have been fighting for #transparency for #taxjustice for over a decade. Today, @EU2020DE could have allowed our Ministers to vote for public #CBCR, but they blocked it instead. [add photo below & tag the Ministers in the photo]
• Major disappointment today. One year ago, we stood outside the @EUCouncil telling EU govts. to agree on #transparency rules to help fight tax avoidance. A majority of EU countries are ready to vote right now, but the German Presidency has blocked the proposal again. @EU2020DE [add photo below & tag the Ministers in the photo]

Template tweets added on 19 November:

• Each year, governments lose hundred of billions to #taxdodging by big multinationals. Secrecy helps enable this & #transparency through public #CBCR is an important part of the solution. Ministers could agree on this today, but @EU2020DE is refusing to allow them to discuss it!
• Each year, governments lose approx. hundred of billions to #taxdodging by big multinationals. Secrecy helps enable this & #transparency through public #CBCR is an important part of the solution. Ministers could agree on this today, but @EU2020DE must put the proposal on the #COMPET agenda.
• This Friday, EU Ministers have a chance to support #taxjustice. EU govts can vote for #transparency rules that would allow citizens see how much tax large companies are paying & where they pay it, but @EU2020DE is blocking the discussion. We need public #CBCR vote at #COMPET [add one image and tag targets in image]
• More than 225,000 citizens across the EU have called on @EU2020DE to stop blocking #transparency for #taxjustice! @peteraltmaier @OlafScholz & @BMJV_Bund must put public #CBCR on the agenda of the ministers meeting on 27 Nov [add image or video link]
• More than 225,000 citizens across the EU have called on @EU2020DE to schedule a vote on #transparency for #taxjustice this month! @peteraltmaier @OlafScholz & @BMJV_Bund must put public #CBCR on the agenda of the ministers meeting on 27 Nov [add image or video link]
• Twitter thread: Here are two linked tweets. You can connect them replying to your first tweet and clicking ‘add to your last tweet’.
  • Today Ministers held a meeting where they could have supported #transparency that would allow citizens see how much tax large multinationals are paying & where they pay it. Instead @EU2020DE kept this off the agenda. @peteraltmaier @OlafScholz @BMJV_Bund (1/2)
  • But there is one more chance this month! Our ministers can discuss & vote on #transparency for #taxjustice next Friday, if @EU2020DE put the legislative proposal on the agenda. @peteraltmaier @OlafScholz @BMJV_Bund must table public #CBCR (2/2)
• Twitter thread: Here are two linked tweets. You can connect them replying to your first tweet and clicking ‘add to your last tweet’.
  • Countries lose hundreds of billions to #taxdodging every year - money that is urgently needed to fight #Covid-19 & fund healthcare. Today, EU governments missed an opportunity to on agree #transparency for #taxjustice. We can’t afford any more delays! @EU2020DE (1/2)
  • The current Presidency of the EU Council, Germany, is responsible for enabling a vote on public #CBCR #transparency. 225,000 citizens have requested a vote this month & many EU govts want this. @EU2020DE must put this on the agenda on Nov. 27. #COMPET
• As the current president of the EU Council, Germany @EU2020DE is supposed to remain neutral. Instead, it is ignoring the requests of 225,000 European citizens & preventing govts. from voting on #transparency for #taxjustice! [add video link or image]
• Last week, the EU Competitiveness Council could have backed public #CBCR #transparency rules to fight tax avoidance (by making multinational companies publish how much tax they pay in each country). Instead, @EU2020DE kept this off the agenda & prevented progress for #taxjustice.
• This week, our Ministers can back public #CBCR #transparency rules to fight tax avoidance (by making big companies publish how much tax they pay in each country). Instead, @EU2020DE kept this off the agenda & blocked #taxjustice. Germany must schedule the vote on Friday! [add one image and tag targets in image]
• @EU2020DE missed a vital opportunity for #taxjustice last week - EU governments could have backed #transparency rules that would allow citizens see how much tax large multinationals are paying & where they pay it. Germany must hold a vote in Council on Nov. 27 [add one target]

Multimedia assets - you can add these to your tweets

• Photos: Campact delivered 226,000 signatures from their petition to German Justice Minister Christine Lambrecht. You can find the photos here. Covid-19 restrictions mean it wasn’t possible for activists to join the petition handover, so there will be a small number of people in the photos.
• Videos: We have CBCR videos (in 8 languages) which were developed without organisational branding and can be used in any way you like.
  • The videos can be downloaded here and uploaded to your youtube, vimoe or social media channels. You can insert the link to the video in the body of the tweet. Twitter automatically counts all URLs as 23 characters long.
  • You can link directly from Eurodad’s Youtube channel You can insert the link to the video in the body of the tweet. Twitter automatically counts all URLs as 23 characters long. You can see what a video link looks like below.
• Images: Below are some images you may want to include with your tweets. Including images can increase the interaction with your tweet and is tactically useful, since you can tag multiple targets in an image in Twitter without this counting towards your character limit. You can download these images here or screenshot images directly from the videos in your language. Feel free to email Olivia if you would like assistance in creating other images too.

Spread the word! Ask your members, supporters, allies and colleagues to join the action

Template message:

Dear [stakeholder],

Every year, corporate tax avoidance costs countries around the world an estimated US$ 500 billion. This money is sorely needed to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic, fund public services such as healthcare and education, as well as climate action and sustainable development. One of the key problems with today’s corporate tax system is the secrecy surrounding information about where corporations do business and what they pay in tax in those countries – a problem that can be addressed through the introduction of transparency rules called public country by country reporting.

Public country by country reporting (CBCR) would allow everyone – including citizens, policy-makers, journalists and researchers – to see information about where corporations do business and what they pay in tax in each country where they operate through “country by country reports”. This was introduced for the banking sector in the EU during the first half of 2013 and the measure has already been shown to help combat one serious type of tax avoidance.

Right now, a majority of governments are in favour of introducing these transparency rules for the largest multinational companies in all sectors, but they need to vote in the EU Council to move this draft law forward. The president of the EU Council is supposed to act in a neutral way to enable progress on legislation. But the current Presidency of the Council, Germany, has refused to schedule a vote on public CBCR. They have scheduled three meetings of the Council body that is responsible for these discussions in November, but they failed to include public CBCR on any of the meeting agendas.

We can’t afford to wait - every day costs us more.

Please tweet the German Presidency of the EU and ask them to hold a vote on public country by country reporting on November 27. You can use this template tweet for inspiration.

Kind regards,

[name]

Template tweet hyperlink: This brings someone to a precomposed tweet on the Twitter platform. You can do this with your own template tweet by following these instructions.

http://twitter.com/home?status=Each%20year%2C%20governments%20lose%20approx.%20US%24%20500%20billion%20to%20%23taxdodging%20by%20big%20multinationals.%20Secrecy%20helps%20enable%20this%20%26%20%23transparency%20through%20public%20%23CBCR%20is%20an%20important%20part%20of%20the%20solution.%20Ministers%20could%20agree%20on%20this%20today%2C%20but%20%40EU2020DE%20must%20put%20the%20proposal%20on%20the%20%23COMPET%20agenda.