On 15-16 May 2007, the German Federal Ministry of Finance hosted in Berlin an international tax conference on the Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base (CCCTB), organized in cooperation with the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) and Max-Planck-Institute for Intellectual Property, Competition and Tax Law. The German Federal Minister of Finance Peer Steinbrück started his opening speech with a brief assessment of the past achievements and future prospects of the European integration. He noted that, although Europe has a successful economic and social model, it certainly needs further reforms to maintain its competitive edge in the globalizing world economy. With...