In 2016 the EU decided to adopt an EU blacklist of non-cooperative third country jurisdictions with the view of establishing a common approach of EU Member States in this area. This constitutes a first and positive step towards a deeper coordination of EU tax systems in the highly-sensitive area of identification of tax havens. However, further coordination through an institutionalized tax coordination process seems to be desirable, also in order to increase the transparency of the negotiating process between EU institutions and non-cooperative jurisdictions. A further step in the EU tax coordination process should regard tax competition measures having a general scope of application adopted by EU Member States: some arguments in order to contrast these regimes could be derived from international provisions adopted at UN level and, more specifically, from Art. 2, para. 1 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
EC Tax Review