Introduction to European Tax Law on Direct Taxation

I. Introduction

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The principle of conferral (Art. 5 TEU) regulates the attribution of competences to the EU institutions as well as the exercise of such competences. When joining and for as long as they retain their EU membership, states surrender exclusive (Art. 3 TFEU), shared (Art. 4 TFEU), and assistance-related (Art. 6 TFEU) competences to the European Union in the framework of an irreversible and irrevokable process that pursues supranational integration as its ultimate goal. Consequently, the competences of the Union are not determined just by reference to the rules that expressly regulate such a transfer but also by the general objectives and principles of the Union.

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Since the internal market is part of the shared competence of the Union and the Member States (Art. 4(2)(a) TFEU), the EU institutions may intervene also in areas, such as taxation, that have not been the object of an express transfer of competences to the supranational level and lack an own supranational policy. Policy initiatives, however, would be severely restricted in the objectives they can pursue as they must be designed to ensure the proper functioning of the internal market.

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The supranational legal framewo...