While French Economy Minister Christine Lagarde confirmed, on 7 April, that Paris intended to push forward with the Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base (CCCTB), the European Commission is blowing hot and cold.

While everything indicates that the services of EU Taxation and Customs Union Commissioner László Kovács are preparing a proposal for a ‘turnkey’ directive for September (or October), the General Secretary of the Commission, Catherine Day, said on 9 April that it was “premature” to plan for the adoption of such a proposal for a directive by the College of Commissioners.

This surprising declaration must naturally be put in context. Day, an Irish national, was giving her opinion in the middle of the national campaign for the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, knowing that Ireland has always opposed the CCCTB project. Her goal was to reassure the thousands of undecided voters… even though the treaty does not change the unanimity rule for tax matters.

But did Day drop her reserve as a simple political tactic or did she announce a real change of stance? On 28 February, Europoliticsreported the great uncertainty which currently hangs over the CCCTB, but Day exaggerated by clearly linking the results of the impact study (still being carried out) to the future legislative proposal. The only uncertainty at this stage: the adoption schedule for the possible proposal is already heavily compromised. Everything shows that there will not be unanimity in the Ecofin Council and that it will therefore have to resort to reinforced cooperation whose preparation – irksome so close to the European elections – risks being delayed as the new Commission will not have been appointed.