Algirdas Semeta, the European commissioner for taxation and anti-fraud, has said to be disappointed at a failure by European Union finance ministers to agree on tougher tax rules on tax evasion during a meeting on Thursday.

Maria Fekter, the finance minister of Austria, said while she accepted the text of the draft legislation, it was too early to approve it. Austria was the last country having shown opposition to a revision of the EU's savings tax directive.

Luxembourg ended an eight-year resistance to the proposals in April. It also did not approve the revision of the rules during their meeting on Tuesday. Luxembourg said that it can't approve it because the law still contains legal uncertainties.

Semeta said that the talks were expected to achieve a consensus on the issue. He said that the expectations were not met.

He added that the meeting was undoubtedly a big opportunity to take a decisive action on tax evasion.

Sven Giegold, a German Green MEP said that the outcome is a shameless obstructionism by Luxembourg and Austria. He said, "The two countries are continuing to block efforts to ensure proper transparency of bank accounts as part of EU action against tax avoidance". He insisted to overcome their resistance for tougher rules on tax evasion policies.