The European Triangle: On the Relationship between Primary EU Law, Secondary EU Law and National Law in the Field of Direct Taxation

National tax law provisions, EU Directives’ provisions and primary EU law interact. National rules may be based on EU law, EU law may prohibit national legal requirements, and sometimes secondary EU law can be contrary to primary EU law. The three sources of law that, in concert, form a triangle by connecting the three sources, affect each other, especially for interpretational purposes. The author analyzes the relation between the different sources of law, taking each side of the triangle as starting points, and critically addresses flaws in the current approach towards interpretation of EU law, direct effect and the compatibility of secondary EU law with primary EU law. Especially with an increasing number of forthcoming EU Directives in the field of direct taxation, the determination to what extent a directive is an acceptable political compromise or is contrary to fundamental principles is getting increasingly important.