On Tuesday 18 September, the European Commissioner for Taxation, Pierre Moscovici, announced the presentation of an initiative to move to qualified majority for taxation matters in early 2019, at the inter-parliamentary conference on stability, economic coordination and governance in the EU, which was held in Vienna.
This notorious subject was raised once again by the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, in his state of the union speech (see EUROPE 12094). However, this is a long-standing priority of the French Commissioner, who promised the members of the European Parliament last year that he would push forward the reflection on the question (see EUROPE 11887).
Moving to qualified majority would represent a significant efficiency gain for the EU, he stressed, but would also constitute democratic progress. Ultimately, it is not right for the will of just one to take precedence over the will of all others within the Council, he said.
Another of Moscovici's priorities before the end of his term in office is to reach a compromise on the common consolidated corporate tax base (CCCTB) - which he described as the most ambitious EU tax reform ever presented, and which is caught in deadlock at the Council (see EUROPE 11794). Another priority dossier is the taxation of the digital sector (see EUROPE 12092), on which he is hoping for an agreement before the end of the year. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)