The wintercourse in General               

Introduction
This intensive programme of EUCOTAX (European Universities COoperating on TAXes) is based on the desire of the participating universities (Barcelona, Budapest, Leuven, London, Paris, Rome, Uppsala, Tilburg, Osnabrück, Vienna and Washington) to set up a permanent structure in order to stimulate the instruction in and research on European aspects of tax law. In this programme both students and researchers contribute. Therefore, this programme provides for both an intensive instructional part as well as a joint scientific publication by the researchers. The European Union has awarded to the Eucotax-Wintercourse in 1994/1995, 1995/1996, 1996/1997, 1997/1998, 1998/1999, 1999/2000, 2000/2001, 2001/2002 and 2002/2003, an Erasmus subvention, which emphasizes the European dimension of the project.

Main subject area
The main subject area of the programme is the European Harmonization of Tax Law.
Within this framework a course has been held in Tilburg (NL) in 1993 on 'The Relationship between Fiscal and Commercial Accounts'. The course was set up as a try-out by the universities of Hamburg, Paris and Tilburg. Because of its success, the number of participating universities has been extended for the 1993/94-course to five (by the addition of Leuven and London) and for the 1995/96-course to seven (by the addition of Barcelona and Rome). Vienna joined the network during the 1997/1998-course, Stockholm is a member since the wintercourse of 1999/2000. Georgetown has joined the Eucotax-network in 2001 and Budapest in 2004. In 2009, Uppsala will participate, replacing Stockholm. Ultimately, the participants' intention is to cover the entire European Union. Therefore, a gradual extension of the number of participating countries is necessary.

Instructional part
The students of the participating universities, who are all close to graduation, will write an essay regarding a subpart of the general issue. The preparation of this essay will take place at the home university during the semester before the start of the intensive seminar. The students will be supervised by a lecturer of the home university. The essays will be exchanged some weeks before the start of the intensive seminar, and will serve as a basis for a presentation given by each student during this week.
The intensive week starts with a seminar (mostly) concerning the general issue. One of the professors of each university gives an introduction on the national approach in his country. After these introductions a panel-discussion takes place. This seminar is open to all students and practitioners.

During the next couple of days (Friday morning, Saturday, Monday and Tuesday) the participating students will give a presentation on each subpart of the general subject in workshops, after which a legal comparative discussion takes place between the students and the lecturers. In the workshops the students prepare a legal comparative report (e.g. similarities and differences amongst the national systems) with conclusions with respect to and solutions for the European Community. At the end of the week (Wednesday), the final results will be presented by each group of students (same subpart) during a plenary session on a 'case by case' base. A workshop is chaired by one or more people of the academic staff.

The students will be given full academic credit for participating in this programme. Each student who passes this instructional part will be awarded a certificate. From each university six students will participate in this programme. Each university will make a selection in order to ensure that its most excellent students participate. The students must have a sufficient knowledge of the language used in research and instruction.

Social part
To make the instructional part a success, it is necessary for the individual participants to become a group. Only a smoothly cooperating group can achieve the aims of the instructional part. Therefore, it is necessary to start the intensive week with a social programme (Sunday) during the first weekend and to plan some joint activities in the evenings. The expenses of this programme are to be defrayed by a subsidy.

Language of instruction and research
Because of the composition of the group of participating universities, the exchange of essays and the scientific publication aimed at, the language of instruction and research will be English.

Coordination aspects
Eva Schupp from Tilburg University (NL) takes care of the coordination of this project (both the instructional and the scientific part).