Bilateral cooperation as an instrument of harmonization in the field of direct company taxation -a comparative legal analysis with particular focus on the German-French intergovernmental cooperation

该研究项目的目的是分析政府间合作是否适合作为协调欧洲联盟公司税法的工具。该项目是基于一个严重的困境：一方面，欧盟委员会和成员国仍然认为，有一个持续和迫切需要进一步协调。另一方面，传统文书被认为不适合这种协调。为了打破这一僵局，德国和法国近年来研究了双边协调的可能性，并在一定程度上执行了一致的公司税收规定。这种开拓新领域的意愿使我们有理由审查双边办法是否适合作为一种新的协调工具。我们认为，由于双边办法发生在欧盟的体制框架之外，因此不参与欧盟法律的优先适用，这种办法的适用性在很大程度上取决于协调措施与合作国家现有税收制度的兼容性。因此，要审查双边办法的适宜性，首先需要确定与参照领域的协调一致有关的法律的（可能还有非法律的）因素。其次，这些因素的重要性必须相对于各自的参考区域进行加权。最后，所获得的知识必须在元框架中进行分类。系统化将使我们能够就双边办法的适当性得出一般性结论。调查结果应向参与超国家和国家一级立法进程的机构表明，除了现有的协调方法外，政府间合作是适当的。

The aim of the research project is to analyze the suitability of intergovernmental cooperation as an instrument for the harmonization of corporate tax law in the European Union. The project is based on an acute dilemma: On the one hand the EU Commission and member states still hold the opinion that there is an ongoing and urgent need for further harmonization. On the other hand the conventional instruments have been deemed unsuitable for such harmonization. To break this deadlock, Germany and France have in recent years examined the possibilities of bilateral harmonization and have - to a certain extent - implemented consistent provisions of company taxation. This readiness to break new ground gives reason to examine the suitability of the bilateral approach as a new instrument of harmonization. In our opinion, as the bilateral approach takes place outside the institutional framework of the EU and therefore does not participate in the primacy of application of Union law, the suitability of the approach largely depends on the way in which harmonizing measures are compatible with the existing tax systems of the cooperating states. Thus an examination of the suitability of the bilateral approach first requires the identification of the legal (and possibly non-legal) factors which are relevant for harmonization with regard to reference areas. Next, the importance of those factors has to be weighted with respect to the respective reference areas. Finally, the knowledge acquired has to be classified in a meta-framework. The systematization shall enable us to draw general conclusions regarding the suitability of the bilateral approach. The findings shall show the institutions participating in the legislative process on both the supranational and the national level the appropriacy of intergovernmental cooperation in addition to the existing methods of harmonization.