European tax harmonisation ‘will take time’

European corporate tax harmonisation makes sense but will take a long time, Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel said on Thursday, adding his voice to German calls for the issue to be addressed as the EU expands.

“The harmonisation of corporate taxes makes sense but we should have no illusions: it will take a long time,” Schuessel told Germany’s ZDF television talk show Berlin Mitte.

The 15-nation European Union is due to admit 10 new countries on May 1. Many of them have corporate tax rates around 15%, half the level in Germany and Austria. Estonia has zero corporate tax and Slovakia has a “flat tax” on all kinds of income of 19%.