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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 February 2009
This is the time of the making or breaking of Europe. When over one generation from now we will be looking back at this period of the turn of the century we will recognize this as the period during which we finally made it, or we finally blew it. By the time the new EURO notes will slide through the money machines, the Europe that we have known will have changed forever. The reason lies in the stark political choices that are facing the European Union. The outcome of these political choices will be decisive for the shape of the European tax policy in the years to come.2
1 The only exception has been the monetary union between the two sovereign States of Belgium and Luxembourg. However, the relative economic importance of the two partners was so unequal (more than 10 to 1), that it looked more like the monetary domination and exploitation of one by the other. The story of the last devaluation of the Belgian Luxembourg franc in 1982 was a clear example of the one-sided character of this peculiar monetary union.
2 The reaction to political events in Austria has shown that there are apparently common democratic and political values which all Member States are willing to defend, but that there is no decision-making mechanism making it possible to defend these values within the framework of the European Union.
3 Council Directive 90/435/EEC of 23 July 1990 on the common system of taxation applicable in the case of parent companies and subsidiaries of different Member States, OJ L 1990 225/6.
4 Case 270/83 Commission v. French Republic, [1986] ECR 273.
5 Case C-175/88 Klaus Biehl v. Administration des contributions directes, [1990] ECR I-1779; Case C-330/91 IRC v. Commerzbank, [1993] ECR I-4017; Case C-279/93 Finanzamt Koeln Altstadt v. Roland Schumacker, [1995] ECR I-225; Case C-80/94 Wielockx v. Inspecteur der DirecteBelastingen, [1995] ECR I-2493; Case C-107/94 Asscher v. Staatssecretaris van financiën, [1996] ECR I-3089.
6 Vanistendael, et al. , “Fundamental Freedoms for Citizens: Fundamental Restrictions on National Tax Law?” 40 (1/2) European Taxation, special issue, (01 2000) 3–86.Google Scholar
7 See the cases of Schumacker, Wielockx and Asscher, supra n. 5.
8 Case C-307/97 Compagnie de Saint Gobain v. Finanzamt Aachen Innenstadt, 21 September 1999 (not yet reported).
9 Vermeend, , “The Court of Justice of the European Communities and Direct Taxes: ‘Est-ce que la justice est de ce monde?’”, EC Tax Review (1996) no. 2, 54.Google Scholar
10 Vanistendael, , “The European Tax Paradox: How Less Begets More?”, 50 (11/12) Bulletin for International Fiscal Documentation (1996) 531–534.Google Scholar
11 “A Package to Tackle Harmful Tax Competition”, Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament, COM (97) 564, final, 5 November 1997.Google Scholar
12 Hancker, , Ottervanger, and Slot, , EC State Aid, (Chancury, London 1993) cite ECJ cases in annex II, pp. 497–532.Google Scholar
13 Vanistendael, , “Legal framework for Taxation” in: Thuronyi, (ed.), Tax Law Design and Drafting (Kluwer Law International, The Hague, London, Boston 2000) pp. 62–70.Google Scholar
14 Ruding Report, p. 14 (Report of the Committee of Independent Experts on Company Taxation, generally known as the “Ruding Committee” after its Chairman Onno Ruding (Brussels, EC Commission 1992)).
15 Ibid., annex 10 A, p. 439.
16 Ibid., p. 202.
17 Ibid.
18 Ibid., pp. 204–205.
19 Lang, et al. , Multilateral Tax Treaties, Series on International Taxation, (Kluwer, Linde 1998) p. 250.Google Scholar
