Juncker defends Luxembourg's tax arrangements as legal The revelations showed the tiny duchy of Luxembourg gave hundreds of global firms huge tax breaks, sometimes at almost zero rates, including household names such as Pepsi, IKEA and Deutsche Bank. "Do not describe me as the best friend of big business, big business has much better friends in this house," Mr Juncker told the European Parliament, where he made a surprise appearance that triggered boos from far-right parties. He blamed opposition from other European leaders, who are resisting giving up national sovereignty over taxation, for leading to "fiscal engineering" and "tax rates that can sometimes lack fairness." "When it comes to the application of different tax rules, often diametrically opposed, that can lead to results that are not line with ethical and moral standards," he said on Wednesday. If there is insufficient tax harmonisation in Europe then this can be the result. In the course of my life I have sought greater tax harmonisation. In spite of running Luxembourg as both its leader and finance minister for almost two decades, Mr Juncker, a passionate federalist, cited his support for a common EU tax base, opposed by Britain and others, as evidence he was against tax dodging. "There is nothing in my past indicating that my ambition was to organise tax evasion in Europe," he said. The answer has to be a European answer. We need more tax harmonisation. My government didn't block. The former Luxembourg leader hinted, while he had ultimate responsibility for happened in his country during his leadership, that he did not know of the tax deals worth billions of euros being negotiated with hundreds of companies. "In Luxembourg the tax authority does not have to report to the finance ministry, it acts on an autonomous basis," he said. Following the Luxembourg scandal, the commission is set to fast track a proposal to require EU governments to share special tax rulings with each other, closing loopholes that enable multinational companies to set up special financing vehicles and shop around for the lowest tax rates. During a debate in the European Parliament, MEPs from the federalist European People's Party and Socialists, who had backed Mr Juncker as Commission president, defended him and backed his claims that a lack of EU powers over taxation were to blame for the scandal. The two groups, with a majority of MEPs, have a grand coalition to control the parliament and have blocked a vote of confidence in Mr Juncker. "We won't agree to a weakening of the commission or the newly elected president Juncker because that would simply be a gift to Eurosceptiscism and Europhobia," said Gianni Pittella, the Italian leader of the European Socialists.