Recent trends in the case-law of the ECJ in matters of direct taxation

Conclusion

Our helicopter view of recent significant fiscal judgments of the Court and opinions by Advocates General confirms the trend of a search by the Court for the appropriate tax principles that implement the Community objective of an internal market but also of some other objectives. It also confirms the exercise of balancing and trade-off between those principles and between the sovereign competences of the Court in this area of law and the prohibition of tax discrimination and tax restriction of the exercise of the freedom. The process of negative tax integration by the case-law of the ECJ has its limits in terms of constitutional constraints, legal certainty, economic efficiencies and pace of the integration process. Even so, it has brought the European project to what it is today: a success story, even if it has to overcome challenges and occasional crises.