European Union commissioners-designate said the bloc should agree on a digital tax if no deal on the matter was reached at a global level by the end of next year, ramping up pressure on multinationals accused of paying too little.

In written answers to EU lawmakers published on Friday, the incoming commissioners also signaled their priorities on fiscal rules and financial reforms for the bloc.

Efforts to overhaul corporate taxation to reflect profits made by digital multinationals have failed to produce results as individual countries have different approaches to taxes.

"If no effective agreement can be reached by the end of 2020, the EU should be willing to act alone" on a digital tax, said the incoming commission's vice-president Margrethe Vestager, who will be in charge of digital policy and competition.

The commissioner-designate for taxation, Paolo Gentiloni, echoed her comments, saying he would seek to prevent individual EU governments from being able to veto decisions on tax matters – a handful of EU states last year opposed a bloc-wide agreement on the digital tax.

The new commissioners are due to take office in November after they receive the final green light from EU lawmakers in hearings beginning next week.

Gentiloni also said that as part of the fight against tax evasion and tax avoidance, jurisdictions included in the EU's tax haven list should be subject to common sanctions. There is currently no coordination on financial penalties from the EU.

(With input from Reuters)

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