[Business & Human Rights Resource Centre invited EDP to respond. The company did not respond]…The present study contributes to the debate by examining the role of the Netherlands in reducing tax payments of Portuguese MNCs in Portugal, based on bilateral investment flows and the business case of EDP [Energias de Portugal]…[EDP] …is the largest Portuguese electricity and gas company…[it] enjoyed several tax benefits by investing through the Netherlands, while no recognisable commercial and business activities in the Dutch financing entity seem to exist. EDP says that the rationale for locating its group financing subsidiary in the Netherlands is the centralisation and…efficiency of these financing activities…Since the internationalisation of business, tax avoidance has been a structural problem that harms public interests…in April 2013 Portugal announced cuts of € 1.2 billion…the Dutch government must take measures to eliminate tax avoidance and evasion through its tax regime in order not to exacerbate the European debt crisis…