EU corporate tax policy has long consisted solely in eliminating fiscal barriers. This changed after the financial and Eurozone crises when the European Commission proposed ‘market-correcting’ provisions to increase tax transparency and ‘fairness’, which were partially adopted by the Council. Analyses of EU responses to the crisis have largely ignored taxation issues. This article fills this gap and explains the substantive re-orientation of EU corporate tax policy through the concept of politicization. Based on 19 expert interviews, it details the politicization process of corporate taxation resulting from changes in global governance, media tax scandals, and the work of non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Through the politicization dynamic, new institutional and discursive opportunities were exploited by the European Commission, Parliament and NGOs to induce policy change. We explore this reciprocal interaction between social forces and supranational actors to demonstrate that ‘politicization at the top’ can facilitate a more progressive deepening of European integration.

中文翻译：

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政治化时代的政策变化：欧盟企业税收案例*

长期以来，欧盟的企业税收政策只在于消除财政壁垒。在金融和欧元区危机之后，当欧盟委员会提出“市场修正”条款以提高税收透明度和“公平性”时，这种情况发生了变化，理事会部分采纳了这些条款。对欧盟应对危机的分析在很大程度上忽略了税收问题。本文填补了这一空白，并通过政治化的概念解释了欧盟企业税收政策的实质性重新定位。它基于 19 位专家访谈，详细介绍了全球治理变化、媒体税收丑闻和非政府组织 (NGO) 的工作导致的企业税收政治化过程。通过政治化动态，欧盟委员会利用了新的制度和话语机会，议会和非政府组织促使政策改变。我们探讨了社会力量和超国家行为者之间的这种互惠互动，以证明“高层政治化”可以促进欧洲一体化更加渐进地深化。