Emmanuel Dunand, AFP | Oxfam activists stage a satirical street-play mimicking wealthy people hidding their money in tax haven, on December 5, 2017 near EU headquarters in Brussels.

The European Union on Tuesday removed eight countries including Panama and South Korea from its list of tax havens, just weeks after first publishing the blacklist.

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The United Arab Emirates, Tunisia, Mongolia, Macau, Grenada and Barbados were also lifted from the list by finance ministers, after they pledged to address the EU’s concerns.

The decision has drawn criticism from activists who say the EU's commitment to tackle tax avoidance after the "Panama Papers" leak last year has now been watered down.

"Eight jurisdictions have been removed from the EU's list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes, following commitments made at a high political level to remedy EU concerns," an EU statement said.

The eight countries will now be on a "grey list" of countries that have made unspecified commitments to the EU on reforming their tax laws.

The blacklist now covers just nine jurisdictions: American Samoa, Bahrain, Guam, Marshall Islands, Namibia, Palau, Saint Lucia, Samoa and Trinidad and Tobago.

EU to remove Panama, Korea, UAE, 5 others from tax haven blacklist https://t.co/UOzwJd14qN The EU launched the list in December 2017, and now a month later nearly half of the "blacklist" is being cut... Global Fin Integrity (@GFI_Tweets) January 17, 2018

Ministers agreed that "delisting was justified in the light of an expert assessment of the commitments made by these jurisdictions to address deficiencies identified by the EU," the statement said.

"In each case, the commitments were backed by letters signed at a high political level."

French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said Tuesday that the fresh commitments show "that European pressure is effective".

Up to now, the system has centered on naming and shaming but Le Maire called for tougher action. He said: "Naming and shaming will not be enough. There also must be sanctions."

The blacklist came a year on from the leak of the "Panama Papers" -- a massive amount of data from a prominent Panamanian law firm showing how the world's wealthy stash assets.

The EU originally screened a total of 92 countries to draw up the list, which is expected to be continuously updated.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP)

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