BRUSSELS: The European Union is considering putting 20 nations on a blacklist of countries it deems guilty of unfairly offering tax avoidance schemes.

EU Taxation Commissioner Pierre Moscovici says ahead of Tuesday's meeting of EU finance ministers that the nations being considered had refused to cooperate and change their way "despite ten months of dialogue."

The issue came again to the fore earlier this year when reports dubbed Paradise Papers showed how the rich and famous stash their wealth in shell companies in small nations to avoid paying taxes at home.

High-tax countries like France have pushed for the blacklist and a Europe-wide crackdown on tax havens. Lower-tax countries like Ireland and the Netherlands argue that will hurt Europe's competitiveness.