Towards a European Union Federal Tax System: Legal and Fiscal Perspective. An International Comparison
Eva María Gil Cruz
Universidad Pontificia Comillas (ICADE) , Hiszpaniahttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-5389-8502
Abstrakt
This paper offers a comprehensive and rigorous analysis of the feasibility of establishing a European federal treasury from a legal, institutional and comparative perspective. Based on a study of established federal tax systems, such as those in the United States of America, Germany and Switzerland, it identifies the structural elements necessary for the EU to develop its own tax structure: direct taxing power, a significant budget, borrowing capacity and effective mechanisms for redistribution and stabilization. The analysis is complemented by an examination of the EU’s legal framework, the limitations imposed by the Treaties and the case law of the German Federal Constitutional Court. Finally, recent proposals for tax reform aimed at introducing new own resources and institutionalizing the issuance of common debt are evaluated. The central thesis argues that a European federal treasury is not only desirable but essential to safeguard the EU’s strategic sovereignty, internal cohesion and capacity to act at the global level.
Słowa kluczowe:
federal treasury, debt, sovereignty, own resources, European integrationBibliografia
Alesina, Alberto, and Enrico Spolaore. The Size of Nations. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2003. Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP). Federal Aid to States: Trends and Policy Implications. Washington: CBPP, 2023.
Centre for Strategic and International Studies. The Fiscal Future of Europe. Washington: CSIS, 2024. https://www.csis.org.
Claeys, Grégory, Zsolt Darvas, and Guntram B. Wolff. Benefits and Drawbacks of European Unification of Fiscal Rules. Brussels: Bruegel, 2014.
Congressional Budget Office (CBO). The Budget and Economic Outlook: 2024 to 2034. Washington: U.S. Congress, 2024.
Council of the European Union. “Financing the EU Budget: Structure, Sources and Figures,” 2025.
De Grauwe, Paul. The Economy of the Monetary Union. 13th ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020.
De Witte, Bruno. “Legal Instruments and Judicial Protection.” In The Evolution of EU Law, 2nd ed., edited by Paul Craig and Gráinne de Búrca, 237–70. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012.
Delatte, Anne-Laure, and Nicolas Valla. A European Treasury: Facing the Next Crisis. Bruegel Policy Contribution, no. 5 (2020): 76–88.
Delors Centre. Towards a Fiscal Union? The Next Generation EU as a Test Case. Berlin: Jacques Delors Centre, 2023.
Dullien, Sebastian, and Ferdinand Fichtner. “A Common Unemployment Insurance Scheme for the Euro Area.” DIW Economic Bulletin 3, no. 1 (2013): 9–14.
European Commission. Annual Report on the EU Budget 2022. Brussels: Publications Office of the European Union, 2022.
European Commission. NextGenerationEU: A European Recovery Plan. Brussels: Publications Office of the European Union, 2021.
European Commission. Proposal for New Own Resources: Enhancing EU Financial Autonomy. COM(2023) 323 final. Brussels: European Commission, June 2023.
European Commission. Reflection Paper on Strengthening the Economic and Monetary Union. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2017.
Accessed March 28, 2025. https://ec.europa.eu/info/publications/reflectionpaper-deepening-economic-and-monetary-union_en.
European Commission. Towards a Fair and Efficient Tax System in the European Union. Directorate-General for Taxation and Customs Union, 2023. Accessed April 21, 2025 . https://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/home_en.
European Fiscal Board. Annual Report 2022. Brussels: European Commission, 2022.
European Parliament – Research Service. Breakdown of Current Own Resources in the EU Budget. Brussels: European Parliamentary Research Service, 2020. Accessed April 3, 2025. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document.html.
Fabbrini, Sergio. The Future of Europe: Decoupling or Integration?. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2021.
Fabbrini, Sergio. Which European Union? Europe after the Euro Crisis (2021). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2021.
Federal Ministry of Finance. Financial Compensation Between the Federation and the Länder in 2023: Monthly Report, March 2024. Berlin: Federal Ministry of Finance, 2024.
Fossum, John Erik, and Agustín José Menéndez. The Constitution’s Gift: A Constitutional Theory for a Democratic European Union. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2020.
Fundación Alternativas. Is a Fiscal Union in the EU Feasible?. Madrid: Fundación Alternativas, 2023.
Habermas, Jürgen. The Crisis of the European Union: A Response. Translated by Ciaran Cronin. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2012.
Habermas, Jürgen. The Lure of Technocracy. Translated by Ciaran Cronin. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2018.
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Public Administration at a Glance. Paris: OECD, 2023. https://www.oecd.org.
Piketty, Thomas, Emmanuel Saez, and Gabriel Zucman. “Towards a Fiscal Union for the EU,” Journal of European Public Policy 28, no. 3 (2021): 350–73.
Piketty, Thomas, Isabelle Martucci, and Guillaume Guionnet. For a Treaty for the Democratisation of Europe. Paris: Seuil, 2021.
Pisani-Ferry, Jean. The Euro Crisis and Its Aftermath. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014. (Crossref)
Rodden, Jonathan. Hamilton’s Paradox: The Promise and Peril of Fiscal Federalism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006. (Crossref)
Scharpf, Fritz W. Community and Autonomy: Institutions, Policies and Legitimacy in a Multilevel Europe. Frankfurt: Campus Verlag, 2010.
Schellenberg, Reto, and Lukas Müller. “Equalisation Mechanisms in Swiss Federalism.” Swiss Political Science Review 27, no. 3 (2021): 421–38.
Schmidt, Vivien A. “Democracy and Legitimacy in the European Union Revisited: Input, Output and Throughput.” Political Studies 67, no. 1 (2019): 3–21. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9248.2012.00962.x. (Crossref)
Serrano Antón, Fernando. “Crónica sobre la Fiscalidad de la UE: El fracaso en la adopción de la propuesta de Directiva sobre la tributación mínima global (Pilar 2).” Unión Europea Aranzadi, no. 6 (2022): 105–10.
Vatter, Adrian. Swiss Federalism: The Transformation of a Federal Model. London: Routledge, 2020.
Verdier, Pierre-Henri. “La cláusula del artículo 311 TFUE y la autonomía fiscal de la Unión Europea.” Revista de Derecho Comunitario Europeo 26, no. 71 (2022): 89–112.
Verdun, Amy, and Jonathan Zeitlin. “The European Semester as a New Architecture of EU Socio-Economic Governance in Theory and Practice.” Journal of European Public Policy 25, no. 2 (2018): 137–48. https://doi.org/10.1080/13501763.2017.1363807. (Crossref)
Zubiri, Ignacio. Federalismo fiscal: Principios y aplicaciones. Madrid: Instituto de Estudios Fiscales, 2017.
Universidad Pontificia Comillas (ICADE) https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5389-8502







