Finance Minister, Bruno Le Maire, argued that harmonisation of the eurozone's corporate tax rules is not just desirable but essential. It would be impossible, he suggested, to coordinate political action at eurozone level with ‘19 levels of tax, and 19 different economic policies’.

Le Maire may have a good point, but the fact that the eurozone now has 19 different tax systems also illustrates just how difficult corporate tax harmonisation will be to achieve.